All too often, people are taken aback when I speak about how necessary I think it is familiarize ourselves with the subject of death. People who do not say the word death, don't want to think about dying, or don't see an obvious connection of death and fundraising often tell me it is a bit macabre.
In legacy fundraising people often joke that they have to help donors see that writing a will does not invite death to come any sooner. This feeling that talking about death in any context is macabre is also completely false.
Sometimes people like to make assumptions. I've had someone tell me that I must like ghost stories, because "I like death" (Point of clarification: I don't "like" death, am not at peace with my own mortality, and do not have any fear conquered. Also, I hate ghost stories, but love to hear impact stories about what people did during their lifetimes). I must also like cemeteries (ok, this one is true, but it is still uncool to assume).
Death is not in itself macabre. Death is a part of life. It is natural. And it is about time we start treating it that way.
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