When is letting go not giving up?

Working in the field of life and death you often see people come to terms with the end or the potential end. You see wives and husbands, sons and daughters battle within to determine when it is okay to let go. The truth is that for most it is the most guilt riddled experience of your adult life. "Did I do the right thing?" The problem is that for most of us letting go is the equivalent of giving up, and there isn't a red blooded American that likes to give up. We view defeat as the result of giving up the good fight when the reality is that its just allowing life to end with some sort of grace left. We claw and fight with all our might to cling to that last breath to prove we can beat the reaper. Grandpa is strong and will out live us all is the biggest lie ever told. Death finds us all. Be it walking across a street or lying in our bed, at sometime the dark shadow will in fact take you over and silence your last breath. This fact will hold true for all your life; Death is coming. The living tend to want the dying to survive more than the dying themselves. It is more of a selfish act of unresolved guilt that makes us prolong the suffering of our loved ones. We do not do it on purpose and Lord knows it is with intent, but never the less, we still do it. We do it in love, live, and death; we do not know how or when to let go. Giving up is not a way of life for most of us and it shouldn't be. But when the one you love has lost all the life in their eyes, whisper gently good-bye, and let them go.