In beauty : a Quaker approach to end-of-life care

by Kirsten Backstrom

Pamphlet, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

CP 355

Publication

Wallingford, Pa. : Pendle Hill Publications, 2001.

ISBN

0875743552 / 9780875743554

Local notes

Pendle Hill Pamphlet 355

User reviews

LibraryThing member kaulsu
Backstrom has written with more honesty and forthrightness than most caregivers have in my reading. She names the games her ego plays as she sits with others while also acknowledging that her ministry of presence is one of comfort to many.

She frames her pamphlet with the Navajo prayer "May You Walk
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in Beauty":

With beauty before you,
may you walk...
With beauty behind you,
may you walk...
With beauty on your right side,
may you walk...
With beauty on your left side,
may you walk...
With beauty below you,
may you walk...
With beauty above you,
may you walk...
With beauty all around you,
may you walk...
With beauty within you,
may you walk...
In beauty,
may you walk...
In beauty,
may you walk...
In beauty,
may you walk.

Backstrom helpfully divides her pamphlet into sections in which I, as a helper, need help, or which those we are accompanying in their dying may question.

"Listening," "Perfection," "Humility," "Direct Experience," "Simplicity," "Integrity," "Community," and "Harmony."

As the reader reflects on those they have accompanied, my they pray, too, that "in beauty may they walk."
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LibraryThing member QuakerReviews
Backstrom tells of her experience as a hospice volunteer, offering care to people in the process of dying. She tells us about how she does this service, and some of what she has learned about dying and the meaning of life. This is valuable, profound, and beautifully written.

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Call number

CP 355

Barcode

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