Thanks for your thoughtful comment, and for sharing your experiences!

Although this was many years ago now, when I first came to the USA in 1981 someone told me a bit of a joke:

Q: "What's the main difference between a European and an American?"

A: "The American believes death is OPTIONAL."

Perhaps because I was primarily raised by very old people — my parents were 39 and 43, respectively, when I was born — death was always very "natural" when I was growing up in Denmark... and continued to be so, in the context of my family. But the attitudes of the external world here in the US were baffling... as you pointed out, so many people seem incapable of truly empathizing with the dying or terminally ill person. I expect it is largely because if they actually did so, they would have to pause for just long enough to consider their own mortality... and they would rather forget that it even exists.

My mother was in her late 80s when she passed away, and unfortunately dementia had set in so she was not really aware of who and what was around her anymore. But even so, science doesn't know what happens from the inside to someone afflicted thus... maybe it was very peaceful for her.