For me the following works...
By not regarding ourselves as stand-alone entities. I consider my children to be extensions of myself and my goal on this earth is to father as many as I can manage and pass as much of myself on to them as I can. If each important part of me is represented in at least one of my children and they consider it important to do the same (ie.carry themselves on to the next generation in a similar manner), then that will be my immortality. My job on this earth will have been completed and I am ready to accept whatever is in store for me next.
By not regarding ourselves as stand-alone entities. I consider my children to be extensions of myself and my goal on this earth is to father as many as I can manage and pass as much of myself on to them as I can. If each important part of me is represented in at least one of my children and they consider it important to do the same (ie.carry themselves on to the next generation in a similar manner), then that will be my immortality. My job on this earth will have been completed and I am ready to accept whatever is in store for me next.
I always figured life was more about quality than quantity......living to be 150 wouldn't be much fun if I was laying in a bed staring at the ceiling for the last 70 or 80 years.....
I'm just about 40 now, single, no kids, no significant other in my life and will in all likelihood finish out the last 40 the same way......liking my freedom more than all the extra responsibilities I would have being on a different road......world is getting crazy, hardly anyone takes any personal responsibility anymore.....no interest in raising offspring, too much work and expense and responsibility.....besides that, then they have to go through all the same BS in a world that gets faster and more complicated as we speak.....
The unknown presents some fear, but when I get old and tired and have used up whatever health I have left then, I believe death will be more or less a welcome event for me......hope by then a future Kevorkian will be around to make the suffering end before suffering has the chance to be the only event in my life....then who knows....maybe there is an afterlife....maybe it just all turns black and like going to sleep and waking up in the morning not remembering anything during sleep, except this time you don't wake up....
People really don't remember anyone past grandparents.......who ever talked about great-granddad doing this or that??? Unless you are incredibly famous for creating a cure for some dreaded disease, a movie star, athlete, or serial killer......you will probably be totally forgotten about when your grandkids keel over.
I'm just about 40 now, single, no kids, no significant other in my life and will in all likelihood finish out the last 40 the same way......liking my freedom more than all the extra responsibilities I would have being on a different road......world is getting crazy, hardly anyone takes any personal responsibility anymore.....no interest in raising offspring, too much work and expense and responsibility.....besides that, then they have to go through all the same BS in a world that gets faster and more complicated as we speak.....
The unknown presents some fear, but when I get old and tired and have used up whatever health I have left then, I believe death will be more or less a welcome event for me......hope by then a future Kevorkian will be around to make the suffering end before suffering has the chance to be the only event in my life....then who knows....maybe there is an afterlife....maybe it just all turns black and like going to sleep and waking up in the morning not remembering anything during sleep, except this time you don't wake up....
People really don't remember anyone past grandparents.......who ever talked about great-granddad doing this or that??? Unless you are incredibly famous for creating a cure for some dreaded disease, a movie star, athlete, or serial killer......you will probably be totally forgotten about when your grandkids keel over.
"The manner of death can be scary though."
Reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me, about a friend of his he worked with in an industrial setting. One of the machines needed repairs, it was some sort of barrel cutting machine that had curved cutters.....the worker had to step inside the jaws of the machine to make the necessary repairs, and due to some sort of faulty lock out/tag out precaution, or at least blocking the action with some sort of barrier......the machine activated and the worker was cut in half somewhere around his beltline.
The machine was left in this closed position as it left his organs in his body cavity.....it was known at that time that that would be a fatal injury, that when the machine was released whatever arteries were severed would just bleed out and he would die.....it wouldn't have mattered if the hospital was across the street......too much was severed to repair....
They called his immediate family and they rushed to the site to have last words before the machine was released.......
That stuck with me for quite some time.....I didn't get much sleep that night....just thinking about his situation and that of the family and how traumatic and surreal that must have been.....I can't even imagine having been near that scene as to how I would have reacted.......
Reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me, about a friend of his he worked with in an industrial setting. One of the machines needed repairs, it was some sort of barrel cutting machine that had curved cutters.....the worker had to step inside the jaws of the machine to make the necessary repairs, and due to some sort of faulty lock out/tag out precaution, or at least blocking the action with some sort of barrier......the machine activated and the worker was cut in half somewhere around his beltline.
The machine was left in this closed position as it left his organs in his body cavity.....it was known at that time that that would be a fatal injury, that when the machine was released whatever arteries were severed would just bleed out and he would die.....it wouldn't have mattered if the hospital was across the street......too much was severed to repair....
They called his immediate family and they rushed to the site to have last words before the machine was released.......
That stuck with me for quite some time.....I didn't get much sleep that night....just thinking about his situation and that of the family and how traumatic and surreal that must have been.....I can't even imagine having been near that scene as to how I would have reacted.......
Journeyman......as Jinn sorta referred to....the machine basically kept him alive as he was sitting on top of the machine, the machine/jaws was keeping his insides together and slowed the loss that was to come when the machine was reversed.....
I remember an episode of "Taxicab Confessions" on HBO.....a medic was talking about a man who slipped from a subway platform as the train was pulling up.....trapping the man between the subway train and the platform....same scenario where they wouldn't be able to save him even if the hospital was right there....all they can do is tell him the brutally honest truth....bring next of kin if close....and give last rites....
That has to be a tough job telling someone that they're about to die....tougher job than I could ever do.....
Hilo...."any thoughts on near death experiences?"
I'm personally undecided there.....torn between the two possibilities of:
A) Is it really a near-death experience, or
B) Is what the person is seeing part of the brains activity of running some sort of movie in the person's head before things go black? (If black happens)
It would help if someone was dead for like 4 days and then brought back to life to tell the rest of the world.....there are cases of people relating stories of bright lights and tunnels.....there is a real gray area as to the persons condition relative to death.....for example, someone who falls through the ice and is underwater for 10 or 15 minutes....I realize that the body changes under those conditions and places the body in an atmosphere that "protects" the body.....if brought back out of the water and revived, the question in my mind is "how far into death has that person gone?"
The other thought is that when people are brought back from that experience, you are placed in a position where you either have to trust what he said is true or think that he could be making it up. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof.
Kinda like UFO's.....if your friend told you he saw one you probably wouldn't doubt him if he came back with an alien and let you shake the aliens hand.
I have a friend of mine that absolutely swears he saw the ghost of his grandmother while he was riding in the backseat of a car......I listened to his story....I know him well enough that I doubt he'd try to pull one over on me and just make something like this up, yet I'm torn between fully believing him and wondering if he really seen what he said he did.....
The only near-death experience I've ever had was of the variety where I fell asleep while driving and woke up looking at a semi coming straight at me.....feeling the blood drain from my head and getting pale from fright, a case of the willies and spending the next five minutes hyperglued to now watching the highway and where I was driving....not quite the same near-death experience as coming back from non-vital signs....
I remember an episode of "Taxicab Confessions" on HBO.....a medic was talking about a man who slipped from a subway platform as the train was pulling up.....trapping the man between the subway train and the platform....same scenario where they wouldn't be able to save him even if the hospital was right there....all they can do is tell him the brutally honest truth....bring next of kin if close....and give last rites....
That has to be a tough job telling someone that they're about to die....tougher job than I could ever do.....
Hilo...."any thoughts on near death experiences?"
I'm personally undecided there.....torn between the two possibilities of:
A) Is it really a near-death experience, or
B) Is what the person is seeing part of the brains activity of running some sort of movie in the person's head before things go black? (If black happens)
It would help if someone was dead for like 4 days and then brought back to life to tell the rest of the world.....there are cases of people relating stories of bright lights and tunnels.....there is a real gray area as to the persons condition relative to death.....for example, someone who falls through the ice and is underwater for 10 or 15 minutes....I realize that the body changes under those conditions and places the body in an atmosphere that "protects" the body.....if brought back out of the water and revived, the question in my mind is "how far into death has that person gone?"
The other thought is that when people are brought back from that experience, you are placed in a position where you either have to trust what he said is true or think that he could be making it up. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof.
Kinda like UFO's.....if your friend told you he saw one you probably wouldn't doubt him if he came back with an alien and let you shake the aliens hand.
I have a friend of mine that absolutely swears he saw the ghost of his grandmother while he was riding in the backseat of a car......I listened to his story....I know him well enough that I doubt he'd try to pull one over on me and just make something like this up, yet I'm torn between fully believing him and wondering if he really seen what he said he did.....
The only near-death experience I've ever had was of the variety where I fell asleep while driving and woke up looking at a semi coming straight at me.....feeling the blood drain from my head and getting pale from fright, a case of the willies and spending the next five minutes hyperglued to now watching the highway and where I was driving....not quite the same near-death experience as coming back from non-vital signs....
I get visions akin to comparative religion 101
eek: Death is the great equaliser.
Phaedrus: Death is the ultimate market force.
Patriot: Death is when you get to your wits' end.
Doc M: Death is the ultimate blue state.
KBuriss: Death is what you get when you don't agree with me.
American: Death -- love it or leave it.
Gameface: Die penniless or the warlords will steal it.
XP: Death happens because of testosterone.
Any others?
eek: Death is the great equaliser.
Phaedrus: Death is the ultimate market force.
Patriot: Death is when you get to your wits' end.
Doc M: Death is the ultimate blue state.
KBuriss: Death is what you get when you don't agree with me.
American: Death -- love it or leave it.
Gameface: Die penniless or the warlords will steal it.
XP: Death happens because of testosterone.
Any others?
