View Full Version : Scenario: You have exactly one year....
...to live. What will you do? Why?
Before I go any farther let me establish context and rules. I had lunch with a friend who volunteers with teens and young adults at risk. Not criminals just troubled or depressed. She posits this question then she establishes rules.
Rules:
- Harming anyone or yourself is strictly out. Lots of studs on this board but tooling up and wasting ISIS/Drug Kingpin/Hitler is a No-Go.
- You will expire exactly one year from now but you will not suffer or become decrepit. You will be in good health and will expire peacefully in your sleep with absolutely no pain.
-Your family knows of your condition and will support any of your wishes. They have accepted your fate and are behind you 100%. Instead of dreading your demise, they are celebrating your life with you while they still can.
-Be responsible. No raw dogging in Thailand or any carnal hedonism without hygienic, ethical, and responsible precautions. No making false promises to people or getting assistance under false pretense that you can repay the debt. No running up credit cards. Whatever means you have at your disposal or whatever assets you can acquire with your condition known up front is all you can use.
-No laws broken. If it is a gray area law that is absolutely victimless gets a conditional go ahead. Like it can't be worse than a ticket with no mandatory court appearance.
That's it. Beyond that the sky is the limit. You have 365 days. The thesis is to give you a set time limit and a "now or never" motivation. You can do anything within the rules. The object is to make the most of your time and get out of a rut.
I'm just curious what others would do with their time and added perspective after these depressing political threads. No matter what happens politically, you won't be affected by it. No reason to stockpile or anything.
Would you travel? Would you try to get right with someone you had a falling out with? Would you do something you never thought you'd do? Would you be more open minded?
Since it is my thread, here is my honest plan.
I would worry over nothing. No TV aside from something entertaining. No news. No politics.
I would try to adopt a healthier schedule aside from work and free time.
I would certainly have a more positive attitude.
I would re-eat my favorite meals. I'd splurge for a weekend in a penthouse in a larger city just to take in the sprawl at night and just walk about during the day looking for the most interesting characters.
I wouldn't talk. I'd listen. I'd let people tell me their life stories. Could be BS, could be true. Could be something simple but interesting.
I'd spend a month in the woods. Maybe a camper or maybe just a tent. As cheaply and austere as possible, way out in the way out where there are no ambient lights nor noises. Just trees and wind. And a clear sky. Maybe in Autumn.
I would have a white Christmas. In the Appalachians.
I would take a completely simple temporary job just for extra money and try to be as helpful and stable as possible. At the ground level. So some young geeky guy wouldn't feel alone or awkward. Like, nothing to worry about.
Iceland. Because Bjork and because nobody mentions it too much.
The beach, be it Malibu or the Redneck Riviera...just watch the water. Maybe revisit diving. Sun up to sundown.
There's more but some things I will keep to my chest. I would more or less live day by day and try to get the most. Not out of fear of death or a negative afterlife. But to really appreciate life and how finite it is.
I see people in their 70s who just get drunk and high all day, and I've known people with big plans and passion gone before their time.
Myself, I'm guilty of just going into autopilot a lot of days. Hithertofore, I have no real, severe regrets. But a lot of years I've just SSDD'd my way through.
I'm curious as to what others would do. No wrong answers here.
In short, I'd just try to be a better person overall while taking things in and appreciating them more.
This isn't meant to be a morbid topic. .More like fun. You have a blank check more or less for one year.
Anyways, just a break from politics and doom and gloom
spend time with my kids and family camping and trying to teach them things I want them to know later
m around to my parents and wifes and a few other things basically all revolve around family :)
do a bunch of videos of things I want them to know in the future as they come across dif situations and ages
I had something about the same but more immediate I had been really sick for a short while and they had no clue what was up doctor said make your peace you are not going to make it through the night ! still gives me chicken skin till this day to think of it
amazingly I made it through even though I was not supposed to kinda changed a lot of things in my life after that since I truly know now one can go any time :)
I would spend the remainder of my time with loved ones and close friends doing the things we love.
No sense in going to see the pyramids if I'm gonna be gone in a year, not really a useful memory. I'd rather just continue to live my life in a way I find enjoyable for as long as I'm given.
I'd love to be able to balance accounts, both good and bad, but sounds like that would violate the ground rules. There are people I have to try and get right with, there are people I need to square away, but both of them are "last act" kind of things.
Moose-Knuckle
08-08-16, 05:33
Spend every waking second with my boy, and make videos for him to watch when I'm gone.
A boy needs a father and learn to be a man from him. Nowadays more than ever.
My best friend died in April of last year from a brain tumor. We was a very active guy...cop, sniper on the SWAT team, skier, mountain biker, Harley driver. Never married. I had known him since 1987 and loved him like a brother. We talked about stuff like this but it wasn't real long after his diagnosis that his mental status really went south. When that happened we couldn't really talk anymore. Watching him go through that really made me think. It was different in the military, being deployed, chance of death, etc. This was worse. That whole live-each-day-as-if-it-was-your-last is a very hard thing to do, and I often fall short, but I try. If I had a year I would quit work and spend every waking minute with my family, especially my kids, teaching them all the life lessons I could.
FromMyColdDeadHand
08-08-16, 08:29
Not write a long post about what I'm going to do. Tick, tock.
I do the first 2 things on your list already. The third one however......that's a steep slope to climb for me. I would spend time with my kids, getting the most out of each day with them. I keep them very active already when they are with me....I only get to see them 8 days a month (due to work and the "agreement" with the ex). Someone mentioned making videos, yes, I would record most if not all of the time with my kids so they can look at them after I am gone. I would spend time with family of course. I would talk to and really get to know all of the women that I know right now. If sex with any of them happened, I would do my best to make it unforgettable. I would get my own head cleaned out, get rid of any unnecessary feelings or thoughts. I would volunteer with any remaining time that I had in a day doing positive things ( from helping friends move to heading down to the local soup kitchen). I am sure I could come up with more things as the year progressed. I would be at the happiest moment in my life the night before expiration.
You ruled out the things that I would do.
I guess I would just eat really good food (who cares how it is for you right?) and take my family to cool places.
I would be at the happiest moment in my life the night before expiration.
He said you'd pass peacefully in your sleep...WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T FALL ASLEEP THAT LAST NIGHT...
I have no kids and Ive traveled to more places around the world than I can remember...personally I'd quit my job (currently has me gone 6-7 months per year) and just spend the last year with my wife/dogs/family just chilling, doing the things I love...working the property/garden, hiking with the dogs, water skiing, snowmobiling, etc. Not much else I'd want to do other than that.
I guess I would just eat really good food (who cares how it is for you right?) and take my family to cool places.
That right there is a damn good idea...a lot of guys are just naturally thin/in shape but it takes a lot of effort for me to maintain my weight. I'd definitely be wearing XL sweat pants by the end of that year.
Averageman
08-08-16, 11:48
Empty the bank, ask my Son what he wants of mine, sell everything else and take my Son on a year long adventure. When he was growing up we didn't have time or money, it would be odd to have money and little time now.
Laugh, love and help someone else.
The night of, just ease out the plane without a 'chute on a cloudless night roll over on my back, watch the stars and burn on in.
In this scenario I guess I would do nothing........ Everything I would do is excluded in your rules. :sad:
I've already told the wife if I'm terminal, I'm quitting work, taking the lump sum payout from the life insurance, she's taking a sabbatical and we're traveling and spending time with the kids for as long as I'm able.
MountainRaven
08-08-16, 12:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9TShlMkQnc
Scenario Music Video.
Boy, just a year. I'd spend it with my family and friends.
Then, with just a week to go, I'd look up one of my two 'favorite' posters on here and spend my last week with them - at that point I would be immortal, because it would seem like forever.
Boy, just a year. I'd spend it with my family and friends.
Then, with just a week to go, I'd look up one of my two 'favorite' posters on here and spend my last week with them - at that point I would be immortal, because it would seem like forever.
😂😂😂😂😂👍
I'd consider volunteering to work in high-mortality-rate jobs that need doing, like cleaning up a still-hot nuclear reactor.
I know exactly what I'd do, but your rules forbid it, and I wouldn't put it on the internet machine anyway.
I wanna know what everyone would do without all the rules.
Leaveammoforme
08-09-16, 03:29
I always suspect threads like these as an attempt to invoke a "Life is short, do it now" response. Not that life isn't short or people shouldn't do stuff, just... meh.
OP lets thread simmer awhile, then comes back and says "Why not do that now?". Everyone has some sort of epiphany and travels the world feeding kids in between visiting relatives/friends they've had nothing in common with for the last 20 , or whatever, years.
Firefly had a decent, honest list so I'm not expecting a "Gotcha, go do it now", but my list would be the same regardless.
Speaking for myself, I actually enjoy things due to moderation. If I was given time/money/resources to do only what I enjoy, I wouldn't find joy in doing whatever it is for long.
"Here's an infinite supply of ammo, go nuts". Now I'm bored with mini-guns.
"Here's a personal crew to take you anywhere in the world".
Meh, I miss home.
"When you ruin these tires, we'll replace them" Burnouts are too smokey now.
"Go fishing/hunting anywhere"
Whoopty-freakin-do, I caught another fish.
"See that red button? Push it all you like"
Nothing left to blow up, yawn.
You get my drawn out rambly drift.
I would basically do nothing different than I do now. Enjoy my hobbies. Spend time with folks in my life. Not give crack heads money at intersections. Think about words before they leave my mouth (work in progress).
Of course a person should fast track plans ensuring that things were planned out, but people have unplanned deaths fairly frequently and the world continues to spin.
Everything in this world is....worldly. I'm off to better things when I depart this dirt clog. If the idea of my God was the biggest hoax ever constructed then I'm off to nothingness and the fleeting moment I even existed was for nil regardless.
So, in summation.....meh.
The point isn't some Fight Club esque epiphany, nor to see who would be willing to go all Punisher on people or do suicidal things.
It isn't a call to mid life crises of Eat, Pray, Love.
Yes, conscious awareness of mortality is a factor but...
This is what She told me, and why the rules are what they are. You go to bed, expecting to die, but....you wake up the next day. Life goes on.
No shortage of studs on this board who have traveled the world for work/deployment. Or people willing to fight whatever.
The point is more of a Rorschach test of who you are and what's really in your value systems.
I liked the idea of people making archives for their kids. I wish such technology was affordable and available for some people who were important to me who are no longer here.
I expected most would rather do the family thing. Which, I found reassuring.
A lot of younger adults feel like the world is going to end or life is so tragic and unfair.
If posited that you have so much time and the ability to give yourself permission, within reason, a lot of people start shedding woes. A job is just a job. Car is just a car. You don't backpack through Europe to "find yourself", you go somewhere because you want to be there.
I recognize that I literally am an asshole. I'm really, really am far too brusque at times. Not to everyone. Not because I want to be. But given a clean slate, more or less, I would try to be a much nicer fellow. Not because of "getting right with my maker" or because I want people saying "For he's a jolly good fellow" over my dead body. But because, it's what I want to do.
We should not be, as people, selfish. But we can't give ourselves away either.
I recall taking a course in college where we got to write our own obituary. Every guy died a millionaire rap star and every girl died with a rich husband and a hundred grandkids. I didn't realize the point was not just to see how you saw yourself, but to think about why you want to do such and such.
But this little scenario was more one person discussing a little creative tactic to get some depressed kid or some ulcer victim to appreciate what he could do here and now with no expectations from anyone. That things aren't so bad. I just dug it.
I just bring it up because it resonated with me as we get lambasted with all kinds of political stuff, Hitler Trump, Stalin Clinton, and No Chance in Hell Johnson. A lot of intelligent people swapping barbs when really, we are more alike than we are different. A lot of our membership has literally been shit at and hit, shot at and missed. And while we value, rightfully so, our rights...ultimately we are mortal people and while I value my liberty, I'm only as free as I allow myself to be. Or as much as anyone lets themself be.
Personally, I have been trying to appreciate things a bit more and try not to get stuck on tightass. Not in some hippie campfire shout out your feelings way, but the scenario with the rules essentially had me admit, I'd just relive my boyhood to an extent. Do stuff I'd put off. And try to lighten up a bit more about some things.
Especially doing some less than glamorpus job and helping out some young fellow. We grouse about "millenials" but how many of us really take a young guy out and be a mentor. I don't mean as an FTO or as a TL, because that's your job. But some guy who literally doesn't know and just follows what he thinks people want to hear?
Because these people can be our allies as much as our enemies. A lot of people are coming up with no fathers and no real male guidance and don't want to be on the out crowd and just haven't had anyone extend a hand.
Whatever anyone wants to glean, the scemario just made me do a little soul searching and I thought I'd share.
And not so much that country somg I hated years ago, but this is more the theme of my little paradigm here (to me anyway)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY-WtRNIe9M
I'd continue going to work, no expensive trips, I would keep it a secret from this who don't know. I would do my best to ensure my family doesn't have anything to pay for after I'm gone. I'd want my family secure with nothing to worry about. I'd live my life for them, and make sure in death it would still be for them.
I'd keep working to keep my life insurances and get the maximum PTO cash out at the end that'll give them enough not to worry about anything.
Everything in this world is....worldly. I'm off to better things when I depart this dirt clog. If the idea of my God was the biggest hoax ever constructed then I'm off to nothingness and the fleeting moment I even existed was for nil regardless.
That was a well thought out response.
You indirectly brought up one of the things that I sometimes muse upon - the widely accepted idea of Heaven is a blissful perfect existence. Sometimes I wonder how one will keep from being bored.
ramairthree
08-09-16, 13:30
Two chicks at the same time.
Two chicks at the same time.
Serious question: Why is it always two and not three?
Without getting explicit, three would be better. Four would be too much, but three would be optimal.
My justification:
Tag team slap ins.
One girl to offer encouragement and color commentary aside from just sounds.
One extra girl to pick up or put something on the microwave during the congress.
Impartial witness.
and best of all...
Someone to be the "nice" person. After it's all over they will just be like the girl at the end of Some Kind of Wonderful. The butch girl that Andrew McCarthy liked all along.
Like that emotional anchor, ya know?
Mr. Goodtimes
08-09-16, 14:41
Well after reading those rules I'm pretty much out of stuff to do, as any one thing I would like to do violates at least three... so I'd just keep doing what I'm doing.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
ColtSeavers
08-09-16, 14:53
Boy, just a year. I'd spend it with my family and friends.
Then, with just a week to go, I'd look up one of my two 'favorite' posters on here and spend my last week with them - at that point I would be immortal, because it would seem like forever.
Never forget
http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o548/Revoliver6/1460136602_zps9fzlfkxo.jpg
I'd continue going to work, no expensive trips, I would keep it a secret from this who don't know. I would do my best to ensure my family doesn't have anything to pay for after I'm gone. I'd want my family secure with nothing to worry about. I'd live my life for them, and make sure in death it would still be for them.
I'd keep working to keep my life insurances and get the maximum PTO cash out at the end that'll give them enough not to worry about anything.
This with the addition of some videos for the family and for each family member.
uuuugh, to this day I can't believe that doofus did that and thought it would fly.
Never forget
http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o548/Revoliver6/1460136602_zps9fzlfkxo.jpg
Wait what the hell is this?
Wait what the hell is this?
You missed it. That is Stengun. He made a whole bunch of progressively bullshit claims on M4C. His gimmick was he'd start off every post with an annoying "Howdy", like every post. He called out Ramairthree, of all people, for having "never served" because he never used belt keepers on a pistol holster in the Army. He claimed to be forner Navy amd former Air Force, and a current Federal Agent despite being "combat disabled and medicated for your protection". Most quietly laughed him off until in a semi auto pistol thread he claimed to have toted a Beretta M93R. A rare, highly controlled even on Beretta's end gun in the late 80s as a "PMC".
EVVERRRYONE calls him out on bullshit. Even giving him an out here or there but he kept on with it.
Weelll.... Then he googles pictures of Army guys and photoshops a Beretta 93 and his old Cooter Johnson Bobby Hill looking face on a guy's body who is very much in his 20s and kitted out in gear and camo totally anachronistic for the late 1980s.
ColtSeavers
08-09-16, 15:37
Wait what the hell is this?
Short answer: Photoshop fail.
Long answer: Search for StenGun posts from here in GD (I believe the dumbest things heard at the gunshop thread) and the one gun for the apocalypse or whatever it was called thread in the semi auto handgun subforum.
ETA: Damn I'm slow! :D
ETA2: That there M4 is a 'sniper rifle' btw...
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