Bargaining

Humans create change, moreso than any other creature in the history of the planet. Our ability to construct and use tools lets us modify our environment in ways no other ape can. It has become ingrained in the deepest recesses of our minds that we can change things into how we want them to be, always. This makes accepting the unpleasant, well, unpleasant. As beings ideally suited to enforce our will upon our surroundings, we routinely consider every situation as one of "something is broken and must be fixed". The bargaining stage of grief is what reflects this element of the human psyche: if something is wrong, then it can be corrected, and therefore I must possess that power to do so. In terms of irreversible loss, such as with a death, there is just nothing that can be done about it, and the bargaining stage is where we learn, harshly, just how powerless we are. We're limited creatures living limited lives through five little senses, and it is a foreign feeling for us to not be able to get our way.

"Change Your Mind", The Killers

Racy days help me through the hopeless haze but my oh my
Tragic eyes that I can't even recognize myself behind
So if the answer is no can I change your mind

Out again, a siren screams at half past ten and you won't let go
While I ignore that we've both felt like this before it starts to show
So if I have a chance would you let me know

Why aren't you shaking
Sit back and time
Graciously taking
Oh you're too kind
And if the answer is no can I change your mind

We're all the same and love is blind
The sun is gone before it shines
And I said if the answer is no can I change your mind
If the answer is no can I change your mind