the best thing you can do for a dying person is to be with them, to give them cathersis and to let the person know you care. to spend your time with a dying person , giving them compassion, is the *most* compassionate thing one can do for any person. i see death as something we all share in common--you can't get out of life alive. it's something each human will go through. rather than seeing death as the ultimate tragedy, maybe we can look at it differently; the liberation of conscious from the tangible world. i've grown up around people dying, i was exposed to death at a very young age when my grandfather died in our house...

we will all soon join the dead. regardless of what you believe happens after we die, we can be sure that we will all experience it.

i feel it is important to empathise with the dying, to help them in coping. I would personally educate the dying person on the dying process, things which might be experienced (i.e. hallucinations), etc. but importantly, dying should not be a horrifying experience. we were born from nothing and we will become nothing once again. i think however, that you should be there to listen to the dying person. remember with them the good times you shared while you still can, and help the dying remember the good times they experienced in life.