Latest news with #grievingprocess
New York Times
7 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Why Do We Still Need to Talk to the Dead?
Two years after Andy O'Donnell's father died of Alzheimer's in 2021, O'Donnell decided he wanted to hear his voice again. He downloaded some videos of his father from Facebook, edited out other voices, and then uploaded to an A.I. voice platform the pure audio of his father talking. Then he copied in the text of the Lord's Prayer — something he'd heard his father recite hundreds of times in his life — and 'The Night Before Christmas,' and asked the artificial intelligence to create an audio file of his father reading both poems. 'After getting over the initial shock of hearing the incredibly accurate representation of his voice, I definitely cried,' he said, 'but it was more of a cry of relief to be able to hear his voice again because he had such a comforting voice.' There was no feeling of eeriness one might associate with hearing voices from the dead, he said. And when he shared his recording with his siblings, they all had a similar reaction. 'It definitely aided us in our grieving process in a positive way.' O'Donnell, who lives in Montgomery, Ala., then experimented with recording A.I. speaking in his father's voice with simple words of encouragement for his family members. O'Donnell, now 50, was raised Catholic and believes in some form of life after death, but not necessarily the traditional conception of heaven that he was raised with. But even though he knew this was not his father speaking to him from beyond the grave, it remained a powerful experience. 'I don't know that it brings closure but it definitely brings a measure of comfort to hear his voice again,' he said. A belief that our loved ones are still accessible in some form after death is one that's found in nearly every culture around the globe, from Japanese Buddhists to the Gullah people of South Carolina. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Saul tried to outlaw the practice of employing mediums to speak to the dead, but in time, he violated his own prohibition, secretly visiting a medium to contact Samuel, who had anointed him the first king of Israel. The desire to reach out across the divide between life and death remains one of the most primal desires we have. The A.I. 'griefbot' is just the latest iteration of that desire, often involving technology in some form, and based on a fundamental belief in life after death. According to a Pew Research report from 2023, over half of American adults said they had been visited by a dead relative, and 30 percent said they had talked back. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBC
15-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Dartmouth animal shelter opens rainbow bridge to honour beloved pets
Social Sharing Bide Awhile Animal Shelter in Dartmouth, N.S., has a new addition to its memorial garden for pets — a permanent rainbow bridge. Organizers say it is designed to comfort grieving pet owners and celebrate the bonds between humans and their animal companions. It was revealed to the public at the shelter's annual spring open house on Saturday. The rainbow bridge is a metaphor for the crossing where pets wait for their owners in the afterlife. It is believed to derive from a 1959 poem written by Edna Clyne in Scotland after the death of her Labrador retriever. The bridge leads into Trio's Garden, a memorial garden named after a cat who lived at the shelter for 23 years. "This is our rainbow bridge, a way to symbolize the memorial aspect of our garden," said Sam Cole, Bide Awhile's communications and marketing co-ordinator. "It's not a cemetery. It's a place to symbolize and memorialize the relationship you had with your pet ...so you can reflect on the time that you spent together, all the good memories." Visitors can memorialize their pets by hanging collars, name tags or other mementos along the bridge railings The garden already features numerous plaques, statues and plantings dedicated to departed pets. Cole said the space helps with the grieving process. "After the rainbow bridge there will be another hello," she said. Pet owners can arrange memorials by contacting the shelter to discuss options ranging from engraved plaques to planting their pets favourite flowers. The unveiling coincided with the shelter's annual spring open house, one of its biggest fundraising events of the year. With about 600 animals adopted annually, primarily cats, Cole said the open house lets the community see the impact their donations and help have in keeping the shelter going. It also gave them a chance to meet Kiki, the shelter's lone canine resident, who is being acclimatized before being made available for adoption.
