Watching My Friend Die: The Honest Death of Bob Schwartz (American Catholic Experience)

In this heartwrenching narrative, Mark Hare, a columnist for the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, New York, documents the lingering death of his friend Bob Schwartz-a high school teacher and songwriter-to pancreatic cancer. The story is told within the deeply-held spiritual convictions of both men and shows how the honest death of Bob Schwartz clashed with the popular notions of what constitutes a "good death." This emotional book does not shy away from the gritty details of Bob Schwartz's death, but it does show how even in dying he chose to live his life to the fullest, never giving up or simply accepting his fate. At the very end, as Schwartz struggled through the pain that even morphine could not always abate, he never lost his unique wit and ability to draw his family and friends closer to him. Throughout it all, author Mark Hare uses the Catholic belief in the Communion of Saints-the connection among all believers, living and dead-to demonstrate that what is important is not dying a good death but living a good life. Book jacket.… (more)