What Would You Do if You Had Seven Days to Live?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on June 28, 2020, 10:13 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
My 33rd birthday is soon approaching (July 18, to be precise), and, while I expect to live for many more years, yet (both my grandfathers died at age 80 and my grandmother is still alive at age 90), death can occur at any moment, so I have been thinking deeply about that.
A scenario about which I am wondering is if a person had merely seven days, one week, to live, and what they would do for those seven days.
When I was younger, if I had been presented with such a hypothetical scenario, my answer would have been to have as much fun as I could for those seven days, but, at my current age, I would simply continue to live my life as I currently am; I would go to work when I needed to and spend time with my friends and family if I had already planned to do so, because, where I am, currently, I do not need to do anything out of the ordinary to make my life feel complete.
What does everyone else say about this? What would you do if you had seven days to live?
Game_of_Cones says... #3
First of all, you should celebrate the amazing milestone of reaching over 1 billion total seconds lived - if you haven’t already? It happens sometime during your 32nd year, I forget exactly when (I’m 47 btw)
June 28, 2020 11:56 p.m.
Game_of_Cones says... #4
Whoops, 1 billion sec = 31 yrs, 251 days, but still
June 29, 2020 12:02 a.m.
Game_of_Cones says... #5
TypicalTimmy, YOU MUST SURVIVE, start planning now I guess? I found it to be a “life-changing” aka transformative moment in that I decided I wanted to run a 33 mile race when I was 33 yrs old....
June 29, 2020 12:36 a.m.
SynergyBuild says... #6
@TypicalTimmy I only brought it up due to the nature of the post. Assuming my body itself being separate from my hypothetical self, there are a few variations of the question.
My assumption was that if my corporeal body was alive by a week after reading the post, I would get my life's possessions in order and work to speak with a lawyer and whichever the appropriate staff at the most applicable clinic would be. The storage for organs isn't the absolute best in the United States in comparison to a few other countries, however on average it would be sufficient for a weeks time till my death, or even slightly less than a week, perhaps only 5 days dependent on the situation, I could still have my organs preserved to vastly help a variety of possible recipients.
I have no medical history of note, my records are so clean they are practically empty, all of the vaccinations, a good body weight sitting me pretty average worldwide, a little under average for the United States for my height, which is additionally pretty average for an 18 year old male. I am basically as vanilla as I could get, and my family's medical history is also pretty stock. No predispositions to cancer if any sort, and a long life expectancy.
No, I don't expect that a situation this perfect would exist in real life, however if I was to take the assumed post seriously, I would do it as stated. I take social approach to my actions, would they help the society I am a part of? If not, is there an action that would? If so, is there a better one?
It is fair, I should most certainly go to a clinic, we have a family one (that's how it works here, sort of, in my state) and I believe it is important that I not waste the time of hospitals, despite infection rates being incredibly low in my county, and no currently active cases of Covid-19 in the last few weeks, and minimal issues excluding the virus in the city, to my knowledge.
Obviously I am not an expert on the topic, I don't know a ton about the inner workings, but think the situation at hand has an intrinsic and extrinsic opportunity for the conceptual reader.
If you read it as what you want to do before you die, there is an idea that your legacy, what you do for yourself is the end goal, and with such a tangible end, there is no need to waste time with concepts of legacy, as you live for yourself. Being motivated internally this intrinsic approach isn't how I believe many people would take the situation if it occurred to them.
I assume people motivated for intrinsic value do it guided in extrinsic validation. They do things that are 'cool' but are really bucket list items. Many enjoy it, but the feeoingnis fleeting, and people are future thinkers. I believe so many people assume they'd do this is they were confronted with the end of their days because the fleeting feelings would last the rest of their life.
Many I'd assume could enjoy their final moments if they had taken it in such a way, but the people that would enjoy it are extriniscally motivated. They would enjoy having fun partying with friends, and wouldn't confront their internal end fast approaching so seriously. The people that would say they would I believe would actually be unable to contend with their own end, being in a state of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, though may die before reaching the final stages. The Kübler-Ross Model (the Five Stages of Grief) I reference is an obvious candidate for most people's true outcome in such a dire state.
I worked to create an idea that would give extrinsic value, letting me enjoy my final moments, helping those I can because of what cursed me, as well as giving intrinsic worth, letting me give myself the ability to come to with my own death by sidestepping grief. I won't really die, I'd live on in everyone I touched in my life, and in every life my body allows to live after my timely demise. It's a bittersweet way of taking the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that guide me without guiding either as eachother, in the way that I'd assume many do nearing the end of their life. How the details of this end work may escape me, but I believe the goal to the sound.
Thank you for the prompt to let me question my own motivating factors.
June 29, 2020 1:09 a.m. Edited.
Colonel_Kink says... #7
hey demon? i want to tell you what i have learned about living a happy life. i have attempted multiple suicide attempts when i was 15, and 23 and 26.
- What is the reason to live? people never really think about it, some think that they need to live for certain things to happen.
imagine if you could live forever, you would get bored and want to die. even heaven would become hell after long enough.
- i disagree with that statement.
why? if there is a true best and perfect reason to live then you would know the reason to live happily forever.
- that means there is a perfect reason to live. i dont know it, but the fact that one exists brings me hope. because if i devote my life to learning the reason to live i will find it eventually. and that is worth living for.
- i have come to a hypothesis as to what the best reason to live is. the perfect reason to live is related to the existence of good and evil.
- does evil exist? i say no. we measure heat not cold. darkness is lack of light.
evil is simply a lesser good.
- therefore when you learn how to live in the highest goodness, you live in a perfect state of mind.
- the reason to live is love, not self-love. but selfless love. sacrificial, charity. charity is not just giving money. charity is a higher form of love. to give time. to give of yourself.
- when you learn to forgive others and yourself, develop self awareness and a constant desire to improve... you will inevitably discover that helping others is the best goodness you can achieve.
- and with the reason to live, you will live happily.
- what would i do in the event of terminal life?
- i would give of myself to all i could. to know that i made the world and other peoples lives better would be the greatest gift i could give.
and that would let me die with no regrets.
SynergyBuild says... #2
I'd sell my plasma, donate as much blood as possible, and donate my live organs, a living heart can be worth tens of thousands of dollars and my O- blood type can be valuable too. It's estimated that by selling my liver, kidneys, none marrow, heart, and donating my brain and remaining body to science that I could accrue hundreds of thousands of dollars I'd donate to my family and to a list of 6 main non-profit charities I support. Cremation and Burial are wastes when the life I lose could save hundreds and support thousands of people around the world.
It's a grim thought, death, but being able to use it to help so many people and organizations is something I can die happy for. I just turned 18 years old 15 days ago, so I can both legally consent to the procedures as well as be physically young enough to help the vastest amount of people possible.
If I only had one week left, I'd make my goodbyes to my loving girlfriend, my loving family, my small, but close group of friends, talk to a lawyer, and make appointments in hospitals able to get the most use from my death. My girlfriend wants to marry me (I know, too soon, we are only kids after all), and says if I died she'd never love anyone else, but I'd make her promise if someone else came into her life she'd be open to love again.
June 28, 2020 11:05 p.m.