Most friends and family of dying people, most paid and volunteer caregivers of dying people, don’t comfort dying people about their dying. They realize early on that they don’t have much to say about dying that can, without risk of offense or disquiet, comfort anyone in the death room, not really. So they move on to topics that stand a greater chance of being comforting. They talk about what can be done instead of what cannot be done, of what is pleasant or positive or life affirming.
