Ble_PE
I need a beer.
This weekend I was listening to some music while I was painting and I heard "The Dance" by Garth Brooks for the first time in a long time. It got me thinking about whether or not I would want to know when I was going to die/how it would happen. I figured I would make a poll about it to see what ya'll think.
Note that you would find out exactly when you are going to die but there is absolutely nothing you can do to change the outcome. One of those paradox things they talk about with time travel stuff.
One way I thought of to make it a little more interesting was to ask the question based on two time frames. First, if you were going to die within the next 5 years, would you want to know? Regardless of your age, 5 years is very near term, so I thought that was a good time frame. Next, if you were guaranteed to live until 60 would you want to know when you were going to die? I thought that this would be a good age to draw the line at since it's the age that most are starting to think about retirement, their kids are probably grown up and out of the house, etc. So, what do you think?
My answer? I would definitely want to know if it is going to be within the next 5 years because it would completely change how I'm living my life. First, I would triple the life insurance policy I just got to make sure the family is covered. Then, depending on how long I've got, I would quit my job or take a different, part time job, so that I could spend every possible minute that I could with my family. I'd want to make sure that I enjoyed my wife and kids as much as possible and that I left them with nothing but great memories of our time together.
As for finding out if I'm guaranteed to live until 60, I'm leaning toward no. By that point both of my kids will be out on their own (hopefully) and if everything has gone according to mrs. ble's and my plan, we'll be retired, so I feel like I will have lived a pretty full life at that point. The thing that gives me pause is to know how long I have to spend with mrs. ble. If I was going to live to be 85, then I would sweat too much about working an extra year or not traveling as much early on. On the other had, if I was due to expire at 61, then I would probably change my retirement plans a bit and enjoy my time with the wife. It's a tough choice.
I hope that this isn't too morbid to think about or discuss because I think that there could be some interesting viewpoints here.
Note that you would find out exactly when you are going to die but there is absolutely nothing you can do to change the outcome. One of those paradox things they talk about with time travel stuff.
One way I thought of to make it a little more interesting was to ask the question based on two time frames. First, if you were going to die within the next 5 years, would you want to know? Regardless of your age, 5 years is very near term, so I thought that was a good time frame. Next, if you were guaranteed to live until 60 would you want to know when you were going to die? I thought that this would be a good age to draw the line at since it's the age that most are starting to think about retirement, their kids are probably grown up and out of the house, etc. So, what do you think?
My answer? I would definitely want to know if it is going to be within the next 5 years because it would completely change how I'm living my life. First, I would triple the life insurance policy I just got to make sure the family is covered. Then, depending on how long I've got, I would quit my job or take a different, part time job, so that I could spend every possible minute that I could with my family. I'd want to make sure that I enjoyed my wife and kids as much as possible and that I left them with nothing but great memories of our time together.
As for finding out if I'm guaranteed to live until 60, I'm leaning toward no. By that point both of my kids will be out on their own (hopefully) and if everything has gone according to mrs. ble's and my plan, we'll be retired, so I feel like I will have lived a pretty full life at that point. The thing that gives me pause is to know how long I have to spend with mrs. ble. If I was going to live to be 85, then I would sweat too much about working an extra year or not traveling as much early on. On the other had, if I was due to expire at 61, then I would probably change my retirement plans a bit and enjoy my time with the wife. It's a tough choice.
I hope that this isn't too morbid to think about or discuss because I think that there could be some interesting viewpoints here.
