Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: BTW on March 27, 2007, 08:36:12 PM
-
This is not a religious question or even philosophical - but I guess a stamina question. If you got really bad news about your health and that you wouldn't be here much longer, would your first reaction be that its a time for a conclusion or more of a "I ain't ready to go yet!"? I want to make it clear I don't have any such bad news and the question comes from more of thinking what Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards must be wrestling with. That and just thinking how tired I am and what would my reaction be to such news. I'm starting to think I may be a dull depression? Not self destructive as far as I can see, but really tired.
-
Yes. Death is inevitable and ought to be really interesting.
I'm older now and no one is absolutely dependent on me anymore. Younger people with or without families obviously want to stay around longer, and so do I, but I appreciate the inevitable finality and hopefully something beyond.
-
I think your question is a very wise question.
"Remember the grave" ... and it helps you live your life.
-
Noone is ever ready to die.
-
****, I've had a couple of close calls.
But I hope I'm never ready to die.
I kind of like how some of the indians used to do it. When the old indian elders just felt it was their time, they wandered off into the woods, never to be found again, nor to even be looked for.
When I feel it's my time, I'll stuff 20 grand into an envelope, to be kept in a pocket in my jacket as I take a harley off into the distance. On the envelope full of cash would be written, "If I am dead, whoever picks this envelope up, for whatever reason, now owns this money. Take a grand and bury me somewhere. Make up a funny name as well as a crude limerick."
-
In the early 90's I saw a news report on AIDS and if interviewed a 67 year old woman who had contracted the disease via blood transfusion. She was very upset at having to deal with her situation, the fact that her life may be cut short. I certainly felt for her situation, but I didn't empathise. How can you be mad after 67 years? I thought of the kids with terminal illnesses that won't see 10 years old, much less 67. I've got 40 years in, some bad, some good, most great. I don't think I'll ever be "ready to die" but at least I know I've outlived many who weren't even given the chance to really live.
-
More than yesterday,
less than tomorrow..
Life and death go hand in hand.
-
I will give up my life when they tear it from my cold dead fingers!
-
If you ask yourself that question and then say to yourself you would do this or that, then your not living your life fully now. You shouldn't need to change anything.
-
I'm a fatalist, I figure when its time to die, you die.
Not to say that you cant mitigate risk, but some die young and some die old.
shamus
-
If its my time then so be it. HOWEVER I hope that I get to see my children and wife before I go to the other side.
-
If a doctor said to me "you have six months to live" I would immediately start drinking and smoking to make up for the last 20 years.
-
Sort of off topic, but I thought this was a nice quote:
Th'earths face is but thy Table; there are set Plants, cattell, men, dishes for Death to eate. In a rude hunger now hee millions drawes Into his bloody, or plaguy, or sterv'd jawes.
-JOHN DONNE, "Elegie on M Boulstred"
-
Ask not for whom the bell tolls -- it tolls for thee.
-
If I thought I had to live in Kentucky and work the rest of my life, then yes, I would definately be ready to die.
Florida here I come!
-
Originally posted by Shamus
I'm a fatalist, I figure when its time to die, you die.
I told my dad that I was a fatalist. He told me, "If you really think that, why don't you put a pistol to your head and pull the trigger? If it's not your time, the gun will misfire."
I guess I'm not a fatalist.
-
I've had two "close calls" ... and both times, I was very calm, and mainly just sad for my relatives, I guess that makes me ready.
That feeling changed 180 degrees both times about 15 minutes after the incident, I guess that makes me no-ready to go.
hmmm...
-
Don`t sweat it Saw. Me and Pinky are working on a new formula. :)
-
Will moonshine solve all my troubles?!??? Yay! :D
-
Originally posted by Saintaw
Will moonshine solve all my troubles?!??? Yay! :D
What troubles? :D
-
After my very close call last September, I think the only thing I would
have truly regretted was not being able to say goodbye to my loved ones.
Sometimes you can't predict what will happen, so let the people close
to you know how you really feel!
-
well.. I have had plenty of close calls on motorcycles and cars and just living the bad old life... I don't think those count... They don't count cause I never figured that I was gonna die.
But... I have twice now had idiot doctors tell me that I had a finite number of years max to live... very few at that. They were wrong. I outlived one by a decade already.
Still... the later examples.. when a doctor tells you and gives you time... a couple years.. that makes you think about your own mortality... Having done so I can say that I am not worried about it. I will wait and see what is next.. I am in no hurry to leave and will fight to stay but I don't fear it I don't believe.
I did and do think about it from time to time in relation to other things but maybe that is just because I am getting old and soft.
lazs
-
why fear the inevitable? make peace with it and live your life.
-
All of the rabid pro-gun crowd are ready to die to protect their 2nd Amendment Rights I thought.
:huh
-
curval...I think most or us would prefer not to. I think you would prefer to not die for your children but to live to enjoy them for instance.
Being ready to die not the same as hoping to.
lazs
-
who's rabid? heck most of us here are dispassionate about our bill of rights. we are steadfast in our defense of these same rights though. I think you mistake us taking our freedom seriously and taking steps to insure that these rights are not watered down further as a disease.
I understand how one such as yourself could be confused on such a basic issue. after all being a foppish subject who lives by the leave of a distant sovereign and it's puppet government must have some negative effect on the collective psyche of such a people.
-
"I understand how one such as yourself could be confused on such a basic issue. after all being a foppish subject who lives by the leave of a distant sovereign and it's puppet government must have some negative effect on the collective psyche of such a people."
lol..oh yeah...your explanation was clear as a bell. Dispassionate about your rights but steadfast in defense? Clear as a bell.
The title of this thead is "Are you ready to die?"
It didn't say "Do you WANT to die?"
I just expected to see lots of guys here stating how ready they are to die.
*shrugs*
-
I think that several have said that they were ready to die but in no hurry. I don't see what your point is. Are you saying that there is nothing worth risking your life for?
lazs
-
"Noone is ever ready to die."
"But I hope I'm never ready to die."
Here's an interesting one: "I will give up my life when they tear it from my cold dead fingers!"
Doesn't sound like people are ready to die who have posted in this thread thus far.
My point is simply this: I read in many other threads chest pounding statements of how people are ready to die to preserve their 2nd amendment rights.
So far this thread ain't stacking up on that point.
Not a big deal, just thought I'd mention it.
-
I'm completely ready (not that I want to die, because I don't). My family ain't ready though. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be though?
-
Curval I think you've misunderstood what people have been saying in the other threads concerning the 2nd Ammendment. I'm probably one of the "chest thumpers" you refered too so I'll try and make things clear on that issue.
I'm not ready to die to protect my 2nd ammendment right. I am however willing to fight for it. If in the course of that fight should it come to that, and I died, well I'd go out knowing I was fighting for something that was worth paying that price. That being said, the ultimate goal in such a fight is this: Don't die for your cause but make the other poor bastard die for his. (gotta love Patton, amazing man) Anyway If I died in such a cause I'd be OK with it because I know I wouldn't be going alone, I'd be taking plenty of company along with me.
Now so this isn't a total hijack of this thread, I've had my share of close calls. 17 years in uniform, it can't be helped. I've been shot at by small arms, shelled by artillery and SCUD missiles while in the Army. Since I've been in the Coast Guard I've fallen overboard from the ship once. Almost had my head taken off by a swinging buoy while working on deck. Was riding in a 38ft high speed pursuit boat that decided to turn itself into a submarine, and had a heart attack while underway over 200 miles south of Cuba. Every incident scarred the crap out of me and really made me look at my life, but at no time was I ever ready to just quit.
Hell no I'm not ready to die, but I'm not so afraid of dieing that I quit living either. Life is a risk. Sometimes the odds are in your favor and for those unlucky people the odds run out. I'm still rolling the dice and plan to for as long as I can, but when my time comes, I'll go out knowing I lived a productive and eventfull life, having gone places and seen and experianced things that many people have not. Can't really ask for any more than that.
-
Originally posted by BTW
...question comes from more of thinking what Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards must be wrestling with.
That and just thinking how tired I am and what would my reaction be to such news. I'm starting to think I may be a dull depression? Not self destructive as far as I can see, but really tired.
Am I the only one who thinks BTW is asking for help with this thread?
-
Hornet,
"I'm not ready to die to protect my 2nd ammendment right. I am however willing to fight for it. If in the course of that fight should it come to that, and I died, well I'd go out knowing I was fighting for something that was worth paying that price. That being said, the ultimate goal in such a fight is this: Don't die for your cause but make the other poor bastard die for his. (gotta love Patton, amazing man) Anyway If I died in such a cause I'd be OK with it because I know I wouldn't be going alone, I'd be taking plenty of company along with me."
To me it seems that you ARE read to die to protect your 2nd amendment right. You say you aren't...and then proceed to say how you are.
Confusing stuff.
Another poster said this in the other thread on the subject:
"How willing are you to defend your rights as stated in the 2nd Ammendment? I am willing to lay my life down to defend it, are you?"
THAT is clear cut and not confusing.
-
I don't WANT to die, I have too much I would like to do. I don't fear what comes after death, I guess you could say I have a blessed assurance....
The only thing I fear, is a protracted death. I've told my wife that in the event that I'm deemed to be a vegetable I want her to pull the plug but...I know her...and I know she won't. I don't want to be a burden to my family, there's no need. I fear things like Alzheimer's.
So...my answer is yes and no.
-
There is a BIG differance between "willing" and "ready" to die.
If I'm ready to die, then that means I have nothing left to live for and I just don't care anymore.
If I'm willing to die, that's a whole other story. That means I want to live but I'm ready to put my life at risk if need be for a greater cause than myself.
Based on that, my statement earlier is not confusing. I'm not ready to die to protect my rights, but I am willing to risk my life if it comes to that. I'd rather live.
-
I know what I would do.
I'd go sky-divin..Rocky Mountain climbing!
-
Originally posted by Hornet33
There is a BIG differance between "willing" and "ready" to die.
If I'm ready to die, then that means I have nothing left to live for and I just don't care anymore.
If I'm willing to die, that's a whole other story. That means I want to live but I'm ready to put my life at risk if need be for a greater cause than myself.
Based on that, my statement earlier is not confusing. I'm not ready to die to protect my rights, but I am willing to risk my life if it comes to that. I'd rather live.
Okay. Gotcha now. :aok
-
Originally posted by Holden McGroin
I told my dad that I was a fatalist. He told me, "If you really think that, why don't you put a pistol to your head and pull the trigger? If it's not your time, the gun will misfire."
I guess I'm not a fatalist.
"Not to say that you cant mitigate risk, but some die young and some die old."
I knew someone was going to use the gun to the head, jump out of a plane without a chute, etc. comment, thats why I put the above sentence in.
shamus
-
Originally posted by FiLtH
I know what I would do.
I'd go sky-divin..Rocky Mountain climbing!
and 3.7 seconds on a bull named fu manchu :D
you read my mind and that song says it quite well for me on the subject.
Every morning before I leave I tell my wife and kids I love them. I'm not going to get into metaphysics as we all have our own beliefs but should something happen to me at least they know that they were loved and my friends both old and new I hope they know how much their friendship and presence meant to me.
-
"balance all, brought all to mind"- line from a poem by WB yeats- tells us that it's the present we should live in, in other words, live each day as if it's your last.
Strange thing is, when you think you think you are facing certain death, or think you are about to die, then you just live in that very moment.
The past means zip, the future means zip, it's the hear and now that matters, people who have the misfortune to be in a situation like above would agree with that.
So my advice would be to live in the here and now, try and forget your past and don't worry about the future too much as, well that's the future and you won't change it one little bit by worrying about it as the future is still going to arrive.
"cast a cold eye upon life, upon death
Horseman, pass by!"
-
An interesting question that no doubt will get a million different answers based on where people are in their lives.
Since my killed were killed in a car wreck 19 months ago, I've been ready. I don't actively seek to die, but there is no fear and I suppose there are days where the grief is so strong that it would almost be welcome.
Because I believe I'll see my kids again, death now becomes the bridge to that happening.
Where in the past my wife and I would talk about sitting on the porch in our rocking chairs at 90, we now sit and think how miserable it would be to live to 90 because it would mean that many years away from the kids.
That's the common response from parents who've lost kids though so that life event has most definately changed my thoughts on dying.
-
my sincerest condolances Guppy
-
I have been close to death more than once, sometimes for something I was doing. Other times it was because I took a job where it was a significant risk. No matter what, I was not paid to die, just to risk death. Quite a difference.
I don't fear it, why fear what is inevitable. I don't look forward to it and have no intention to hasten it. Both my wife and I have "living wills" and written instructions for care in extremis. Neither of us looks forward to it per se, but we did look at the inevitability of it and how we would need to deal with it. That's only logical to be prepared for what will happen.
-
curval... would you give or risk your life to save your wife and kids?
Does that mean the you are ready to die?
simple stuff really unless you are just trying to make some point that has nothing to do with the subject. Hell... you seem perfectly happy to risk your life to ride that glorified bicycle with a tiny little motor on it... Does that mean you are willing or ready to die? It must mean you are willing to take the risk?
Why don't you tell us about you since you don't seem to understand anyone else?
lazs
-
yup
(http://z.about.com/d/rap/1/0/I/-/-/-/Biggie-ReadyToDie.jpg)
-
Originally posted by lazs2
curval... would you give or risk your life to save your wife and kids?
Does that mean the you are ready to die?
simple stuff really unless you are just trying to make some point that has nothing to do with the subject. Hell... you seem perfectly happy to risk your life to ride that glorified bicycle with a tiny little motor on it... Does that mean you are willing or ready to die? It must mean you are willing to take the risk?
Why don't you tell us about you since you don't seem to understand anyone else?
lazs
Why don't you open your eyes and read my last post.
-
Originally posted by Eagler
Am I the only one who thinks BTW is asking for help with this thread?
I appreciate the concern, but really I wasn't. I think I fall into the category of people that posted, I would take practical measures to prolong my life as much as possible, but I wouldn't feel short changed if I found my time was up. This is lot different than the way I thought just a few years ago. I'm not sure if its an age thing or a type of depression. I don't FEEL depressed or self destructive, but I feel tired a lot. That could be age too I guess.
But it was an honest question as to how most people think about their own mortality. I was hesitant to post it as I did not want it to seem like some veiled cry for help :)
-
I don't think anyone should fear death either - I mean it is going to come. What I was wondering is has it become a rational conclusion or a sensible end in your own mind. When I was in my 20's, it seemed like an abstract concept. Now, after seeing more than half my family and a lot of friends pass, its longer abstract, but in my mind a natural completion. Its like the "circle of life" actually means something to me now and not just a nice phrase
-
Am I the only one who thinks BTW is asking for help with this thread? - Eagler
it crossed my mind. but his post isn't really Baker Act material.
i think the way he feels could be normal if he is an older person who has been through a lot and feels like he has a lot of miles on him.
i think that a perspective change happens naturally to most older people if they live long enough. kids look at them and wonder how they can live at 70 without being in constant terror every day, knowing that they can die at any moment?
ce la vie
but i really don't know for sure. BTW himself suggests that he might be mildly depressed. maybe he is.
-
oops, posted just after you BTW. i'll leave my post up since i hit the nail on the head so to speak :aok i'd still check with the doc about the tiredness tho...
-
Gotta love Churchill...
I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
-
Sorry Skuzzy I said I'd stay out of here, but with no reply in 3 weeks, and the topic at hand, well... "Mustaine" lives on, and I hope you understand.
I personally do not want or look forward to dying. A good friend and I had this conversation, today actually; about death. "Does the person in a car wreck with their head bashed feel anything?"
The same goes for a number of different types of death. I have been "brainwashed" and de-sensitized to "death" from another site I frequent, though unwillingly as the pics are impossible to miss.
Anyway, my concern is thus: do people dying "feel" it happening? That is the core of the question. If there is no real "feeling" then what is lost?
If you want to get into a moral debate about my Christianity, or anything of that nature please take it to another thread. But here, I have to ask the question "when does the soul leave the body???" There are many theories about this and no answers possible.
If I were put in a situation like the thread starter’s examples, I hold true my thoughts would be about the will of God, and his purpose of this. I would pray to ask if this is God’s will let it be so, if not, let it pass. There is no other way about it in my mind. If it were God’s will then I would ask for a sign to show that, if so it is unavoidable; hence I would have no choice but to accept it.
Death is an unpleasant thing for all those that surround it, and I do not pretend to know anything about it. I DO know that I hold strong in my convictions, and that all things happen for a purpose.
Before you comment on this, PLEASE re-read my comments in the 3rd paragraph above. Thank you.
-
"Mustaine" lives on, and I hope you understand.
WTF is this????
Please don't tell me something happened to Mustaine!!!
-
Originally posted by AWMac
WTF is this????
Please don't tell me something happened to Mustaine!!!
see here:
http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199928
got meself PNG'd somehow, though have emailed Skuzzy to no response.
-
Will someone please tell me?
Is Mustaine okay?
-
Originally posted by AWMac
Will someone please tell me?
Is Mustaine okay?
Yes I am.
-
Originally posted by JB73
see here:
http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199928
got meself PNG'd somehow, though have emailed Skuzzy to no response.
You are kidding right????
Don't know for sure but I'd bet money it had to do with the choice of language used in Mustaines posts in the link you provided. It looks pretty clear to me.
Assuming you are in fact Mustaine I would immagine you should take it easy with this personna lest you get smacked with a ban stick again.
-
Originally posted by JB73
Yes I am.
Dammit.... don't do watermelon like this... You had me worried Bastage.
Crap... I care too much for these N00Bs.
I'm glad yer okay... stay that way!!!
Chit... thought I was gonna hafta shine shoes and take a Plane ride...
Asssshat... yeah I like you so STFU!!!
Glad yer ok,
Mac
-
I'm very sorry to hear that Guppy.
-
Nobodys ever ready to die, I mean a lot of people think they'll make it to some grand old age and slowly pass away with all your family etc.
In reality, it will probably come fast and your last words will be something like " Oh S**" and then it's lights out, so no point in thinking about it.
-
I've had this question pushed to the fore in recent years.
It's not really about readiness for me, it's acceptance. It will come when it will come and you have to accept that.
In the meantime, you try to do what you want to do and try to do what's right for you and yours. Beyond that, why worry about it.
Curval, I'm certainly not afraid to die defending something worth dying to keep. I'm sure you'd stand between your children and mortal danger and not weigh the risk to yourself?
We all have our own list of things for which we'd be willing to die; I'm sure the lists differ.
-
Good question, and one that I often ask.
At one time in my life I will freely admit that I was not ready to die, nor in any condition to do so. In fact for much of my early life, while much of my reading concerned death (for instance, my favorite poets were the War Poets of the first world war like Wilfrid Owen and I read a lot of Nihilists and Existentialists whose work dwellt obsessively on death) I suppose I harbored a secret conviction that while other people might die, I never would.
In fact you might say that one of the many factors used by God in my conversion to Christianity was waking up to the fact that I was going to die, and having my eyes opened to see that I was not the altruistic and wonderful fellow that I told myself I was, and that if there was in fact a Holy God then I had nothing that might qualify me to enter into His heaven, quite the opposite actually.
Today, I am ready to die, in fact I can honestly say with Paul - "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." (Phil. 1:21-23) I am eager to be away from this world and present with the Lord but like Paul I know that I still have responsibilities here and people who depend upon me, so I am content to stay until the Lord decides my work here is finished.
I believe that John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress put it very well when he said that we are well advised to be preparing ourselves for death now while there is still time, rather than letting that visitor that will come for all men call upon us unprepared:
Bunyan wrote: "I say, be acquainted with the grave and death. The fool puts the evil day far away, but the wise man brings it nigh. Better be ready to die seven years before death comes, than want one day, one hour, one moment, one tear, one sorrowful sigh at the remembrance of the ill-spent life that I have lived. This, then, is my admonition to you; namely, that you know death, what it is, what it does when it comes. Also, that you consider well of the danger that death leaves that man in, to whom he comes before he is ready and prepared to be laid by it in the grave."
- SEAGOON
-
if what I (and many others) believe is true, there is no death, just change
the thread should read:
"Are you ready to shed your shell?"
-
none of us are going to make it out of here alive. I just refuse to choose the time for myself to depart!!
-
Having loved ones on the other side makes death less unwelcome. One thing's for sure, ready or not, we are all going through that door.
-
Originally posted by Eagler
if what I (and many others) believe is true, there is no death, just change
the thread should read:
"Are you ready to shed your shell?"
Here's a poem I find very beautiful.
http://freespace.virgin.net/b.brunton/deathisnothing.html
-
Originally posted by lukster
Having loved ones on the other side makes death less unwelcome. One thing's for sure, ready or not, we are all going through that door.
I certainly believe this and that it creates a process of dieing. Of course death is sometimes swift and to the young and it seems unnatural, but I guess it only shows how little I understand. I remember the first time I heard George Harrison's song "The Art of Dieing " I felt the title was almost perverse. I was 17 or 18 at the time and saw no art or sense in death. Having parents and siblings die changes that I think. I can't even imagine the situation of having a child die as one person posted.
I guess the strangest thing is when you think how morbid the question is at first glance, its really a question about life. Its sad that western cultures seem to embrace death with denial, and that's not ethnocentric, but very true.
Or as Seagon posted "The fool puts the evil day far away, but the wise man brings it nigh."
-
a scene from the movie "The Perfect Storm" sticks in my head. its where the fishing boat is upside down and 3 men are caught in a compartment that is filling up fast, rising to their chins, and death by drowning is imminent.
One of the men says, just before his last breath or two, "This is gonna be rough on my little boy."
that is the one thing that gets me. if you have kids, especially young kids, you kind of feel that you CAN'T die yet, and the thought of the little ones you would have to leave behind, their suffering/confusion/and longing for the parent is irreconcilable to me. i just wouldn't be ready to die in that sense until my kids are adults.
-
Very true. Later, after the kids have grown up and moved out, and you're retired from your career, every day is a bonus.
-
I agree and as absurd as it might sound, even pets keep people hanging on. Like "who's going to take care of my dog or cat (bird, lizard etc.) like I do?"
-
In 2002 if you had asked that question. I'd have said, 'Yes'. My life had reached a point where everything ceased to have any meaning and all my dreams and goals had crumbled into dust. I didn't see a future. At that point, providentially, I met my future wife.
Five years later, I sit here with my wriggling six week old son on my lap, making it very hard for me to type :). I cannot imagine how I could have felt like that. I don't want to die at all now. So my goal is to prolong my life as much as possible to enjoy him growing up. I'm also aware that my Father lost his Father quite young and that scarred him.
Death has an attraction all of it's own. There are all the romantic associations of 'dying for your country' and 'dying for your family', as if death was simply another event in your life. The truth is that it's the final event in your life. I often wonder if people who commit suicide really realise that. Bad as their life is perceived to be, death has nothing to offer.
I stood at the grave of friend who died in a plane crash years ago (his fault), aged twenty seven. What struck me was the pointlessness of it all. But for one rash moment he would be at the peak of his life right now. Probably a Captain with an airline and married with several kids in a very nice house. But instead he lies in a hole in the ground.
No romance in that. No future either.