Proposal and Rough Draft of Final Essay

Proposal Topic: Originally I had chosen the topic of minimalism, but after finding
out about my friend passing away, I decided to compare his life with Chris
McCandless, as well as research the process of grieving, death, and the afterlife.

Proposal Rough Draft A Journal Entry

Krysta Dean
Seven weeks after the body of his son turned up in Alaska wrapped in a blue
sleeping bag that Billie had sewn for Chris from a kit, Walt studies a sailboat
scudding beneath the window of his waterfront townhouse. How is it, he wonders
aloud as he gazes blankly across Chesapeake Bay, that a kid with so much
compassion could cause his parents so much pain?
- Into the Wild, 103-104
Its an odd thing, how one minute life is flowing in one direction and everything
makes sense, and the next minute everything is upside down and backwards, and
the only thing we really know is that death is irreversible. How we fill up our
moments before death is entirely up to us, and most of us try to cherish these
moments and hold them precious. Sometimes we get so caught up in every day
materialistic things and forget that the underlying importance of our existence is to
live each day to the fullest, to find self-fulfillment, and to make our dreams a reality.
This life we live, we eventually leave behind, and what we leave behind impacts
everyone weve ever known in some way. How we spend the moments we have on
Earth can make the difference between people crying or smiling when were gone.
I recently had one of my best friends take his own life, and Ive found quite a few
similarities between him and Chris McCandless in terms of how they left this Earth.
Both my friend and Chris were incredibly compassionate people, always trying to
live life to the fullest. They both suffered with struggling to find their identity,
maybe they were both a little wiser than their years, and were destined for a
grander life than the one they were living. One thing that I could relate to personally
more than anything else, was regarding Chriss family not knowing where he was or
what had happened to him. When I first found out my friend had passed, no one
could tell me how it happened. I didnt find out for 5 days after the fact that he took
his own life, and still to this day no one knows the details surrounding it. I could
identify with Chriss family in a sense that I had so many questions that were left
unanswered. Five days of not knowing was incredibly hard for me and I cant
imagine what Chriss family went through not knowing where there son was for two
years. The reason I decided to choose this for my proposal is because whether we
have already or not, death is something we are going to have to deal with for the
rest of our life. I thought that writing about it might help me get a better
understanding and acceptance for it as well as anyone who decides to read this.
Ive decided to write out all of the questions I have and try my best to find the
answers for them.

1) What are the stages of grieving and what can one expect through the process?
Almost every source I looked through accounted for five main stages of grieving,
although I can say that simply grouping the grieving process into stages doesnt
really account for everything that someone goes through when they lose a loved
one. The five main stages described were denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and
acceptance, although I can tell you that I experienced depression before anger and
bargaining, and still after Ive somewhat come to accept it. Amongst these stages, I
also experienced guilt. I felt guilty for simple things like eating a good meal or going
for a walk, because these were things my friend could no longer experience. I
experienced insomnia and hypnagogic hallucinations, which by definition refers to
perceptual experiences with no basis in reality that occur during the consciousness
of sleep onset. The terminology doesnt exactly explain what I mean, when in
actuality what I experienced was more like grief so painful I couldnt sleep and I felt
like my body was being burned while my friend was being cremated. All of this can
be explained by the fact that sometimes I simply feel too much, and major things
like death can cause my emotions to intensify.
2) Does death hurt?
Every article I read had something different to say about this, but ultimately the
main theme that stuck out was that once you accept that you are dying, it doesnt
hurt anymore.
3) What is a near death experience?
There have been many cases of reported NDEs by people that died and came back
to life. It cant exactly be explained 100% because we dont exactly have factual
evidence or scientific proof that there is an afterlife. Some scientists claim that
NDEs can be explained by synapses in your brain that continue to fire after your
brain is technically dead. Others claim that the brain releases DMT
(Dimethyltryptamine), a drug that causes psychedelic hallucinations, which could
explain why those who have come back from the dead claim to have seen bright
lights or describe a dream-like experience. One case I read about that cannot be
explained, that actually made the hairs stick up on the back of my neck was a story
about a woman who died while undergoing surgery. When the doctors revived her,
she was able to retell everything as though she was watching the doctors in the
room. She could describe every tool that was used on her and she could recount
every conversation the doctors had while she was dead.
4) What options do you have for your body after you die?
There are multiple options aside from simply being buried or cremated, and I found
some of these options to be kind of interesting.
i) You can be frozen by nitrogen and turned into fertilizer.
ii) You can donate your body to science.
iii) In Tibet and Mongolia, the practice of feeding the birds is very common, where
they literally leave your body out in the open for the birds to feast on.
iv) You can become a paperweight: this became popular in 2015, where people have
begun to imbed cremated ashes with swirled, colorful glass.
v) You can have your ashes shot out into deep space, never to return, at a price of
$12,500.

vi) Plastination: You, too, can go on exhibit at the Body Worlds exhibit.
vii) Mushroom suit: You can wear a biodegradable suit that will make your body
more eco-friendly. (Ive also head of people being turned into trees and planted
when they die.)
viii) You can have your ashes pressed into a record so mourners can play you on
repeat
ix) You can be made into a firework, and really go out with a bang.
x) You can have your ashes turned into a diamond
xi) Your ashes can be made into a reef ball that can be placed in the ocean to help
endangered reefs, allowing coral to thrive on you after you die.
xii) Cryonics: you can have your body frozen to the point where decaying stops in
the hopes that somewhere in the future, somehow your ailment or death can be
cured.

******* This is merely the rough draft, I wasnt sure where exactly to take
this or whether or not I should keep all of this here. I didnt get to 10
questions yet, and wasnt sure if I was picking the right kinds of
questions. I figured we could talk about it in the computer lab next
Wednesday. Regardless, writing about it has helped me quite a bit. I just
wasnt sure if I was writing too much or focusing too much on aspects that
might not help the idea.