My Last Words

For those of you who enjoy Scrubs this episode creates an interesting juxtaposition of how the elderly and the young handle, face, and deal with death. JD and Turk spend the night with a terminally ill patient, with little time left to live, discussing what makes life worth living, and how to cope with dying. They ultimately put their doctorly pride aside, admit their fear of death, and try to find ways to help the patient accept it. JD tries to calm him by saying that he would hope for nothing more than that his last thought be a good one. When the patient quietly slips away at the end he whispers to them that the beer they brought him earlier in the show was delicious. It raises an interesting aspect of aging, which of course is, when we cease to. Is all this emphasis we place on youth really that important in the presence of death? Furthermore, how does the existence of an afterlife affect our feelings on death?