Discuss how the causes of death in the United States have changed over the past few centuries.
Today inside the United States the leading cause of death is heart disease. This is followed by cancer, COVID-19, accidents, strokes, lower chronic respiratory disease, and more (CDC, 2022). As we go back in time to 122 years ago in 1900, the leading causes of death were infectious diseases: pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diphtheria causing over 1/3 of deaths in the United States. There were several more diseases that lead to significant death tolls such as dysentery, typhoid fever and just as we see today influenza remains a top killer although it is much more preventable today (CDC, 1999).
The further we travel back in time the more we see of infectious diseases being the leading cause of death. In the 16th century to the late 18th century, smallpox was the primary killer and the spread of infectious diseases in these days were thriving. This of course is the time period where travelling to both North America and South America started becoming more popularized and accessible. In the U.S. smallpox had an extreme effect on Native Americans and Indigenous peoples. It also heavily affected African Americans one terrifying comparison is that smallpox killed more African Americans and black loyalists than the combined deaths of the American Revolution (Schumann, 2022).
War has always been another contributing factor to human death, while diseases usually are the main reason for death both in America and across the world.. There have been many wars and I can’t imagine a world where there won’t be any wars happening somewhere on the globe. Unfortunately, it seems as humans we are unable to prevent wars from occurring. For example WW1 which was also referred to as “The War to End All Wars”, became easily overshadowed by WW2. In war, both noncombatants/civilians and soldiers are killed. Wars also add to disease. The less clean of a space we inhabit the more easily disease will spread.
Is the fear of death universal?
I believe the fear of death can be interpreted in different ways, depending on how you look at it. In many cultures and religions death isn’t necessarily feared but if you asked every individual in the world about if they are afraid to die, I believe the census would conclude that yes, the majority of people do fear death. On the contrary, a fairly recent study conducted between 1961-2014 including around 26,000 people worldwide proved that religion or religious people are less afraid of dying than atheists or people who are not religious (Jong, 2017).
What are at least 4 ways in which awareness of death may shape people’s lives? How might thoughts of death lead to these behaviors?
Death can shape our lives in many ways. So, I’ll use myself as an example. When I was about 6 was the first experience of death in my life. The awareness of death made me want to become an emergency medical technician or have some medical knowledge so I wouldn’t feel helpless in an emergency. So, it inspired me to learn about how to help someone in an emergency. And two it made me feel helpless, so I think that made my eyes open. And be aware of, sometimes things are out of my control which has helped calm my temper in stressful situations.
The third way is that it impacted me not just this death but others as well, it made me reconsider what my thoughts on the afterlife are. I grew up religious and ended up experimenting with other religions as a teen. So, it provoked me to think about death and what comes after. The last way in which awareness of death has shaped my life is it’s made me realize from a young age, we don’t know how much time we’ve got so we should appreciate and do our best every moment we get to share with loved ones and friends or simply just our daily interactions with anyone.
Works Cited
CDC. (1999, July 29). Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Control of Infectious Diseases. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4829a1.htm#:~:text=In%201900%2C%20the%20three%20leading,than%205%20years%20(1).
CDC. (2022, September 6). Leading Causes of Death. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
Jong, J. (2017, March 24). Study into who is least afraid of death. Retrieved from University of Oxford: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-03-24-study-who-least-afraid-death
Schumann, L. (2022, October 15). Disease & Death in Early America. Retrieved from Tully (NY) Area Historical Society News & Databases: https://www.tullyhistoricalsociety.org/tahs/medical.php
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