Death... Well Not Death As Such...

RopeDrink · 14-07-2001 11:13pm #1

Right, this isn't actualy about death, but merely the fact that I actualy fear it...

Growing old, and withering away is not something im willing to endure... We all know that the only real certainty in life, is death, but some people have some sick views on such a matter...

Anyway, enough dribble... The one thing that upsets me the most (for some strange reason - It's a kind of... fanasty!?)

Is that although I'll be the star of my funeral, it pains me that I won't be able to actualy witness it...

As of late I've just had these thoughts and questions about - "What would my funeral be like... What would people say... Who would actualy go there to mourn..."

Ok it sounds a little self centered, but it's something that that rammed itself into the lower of my brain and has refused to leave...

What are your views on death / your own death... Do you fear death!? I wouldn't mind (So long as there wasn't a definate *when*) if I knew for a fact that one day I'd pass away quite peacefully, but there ae so many gruesome things that can happen in a life time, that can / can't lead to death, but might haunt you to your dying day...

I, for one, despise the thought of drowning / falling to my death...

When I do reach the end of the road, I have my heart set towards the idea of cremation... I'd rather be reduced to ashes then rot in a coffin, six feet under, while providing a valid meal for maggots...

Sorry if this thread seems pointless, but I thought I'd drop it in...

.ak · 15-07-2001 8:58am

Death'll come, hopefully sooner then it should. We're all just a clump of organic tissue, and eventually that tissue breaks down, or someone breaks it down for you (i.e: a few .50 bullets into the face should do it) I wouldn't care if I died tomorrow... Because what could I do about it?

And no, I don't fear death. And I don't mean that in a macho kind of way... I used to fear death, like every normal kid, but now it simply doesn't worry me.

This is my opinion,

-Dark-Angel-

P.S: This is also why I'm going into the Military... For a soldier who fears no death, fears nothing (except peelin' the spuds, and since it's the Irish army, there's gonna be a whooole load of that. DOH)

SantaHoe · 15-07-2001 9:18am

Originally posted by RopeDrink:
I'd rather be reduced to ashes then rot in a coffin, six feet under, while providing a valid meal for maggots...

Well the maggots have to eat something... dead or not, the idea of cremation makes me very uneasy... I'd rather not die and not have to worry about it.
Sure it scares the bejebus out of me... probably because it's so hard to take it all in... trying to imagine nothing-ness, what the transition into death feels like, is there an after-life... so many unanswered questions.
So in many ways - it's a fear of the unknown... the unthinkable, the unimaginable.

Many people say that - "well I'll be dead, so I really won't be able to give a crap about being dead"... the point there is - why bother worrying about something you have no control over?
Why spend your living days fixated on the end?
I suppose some people can rationalize it, then just put it out of their minds.

Wow, this topic is really depressing... makes you feel like the clock is ticking.

RopeDrink · 15-07-2001 12:30pm

True, you dont have any control over it, but just imagine contracting AIDS / Cancer... Or having your skeleton mashed into pulp and lying on your death bed, unimaginable pain etc...

The only other reason it scares me is that there are people that I've seen / and still see withering away...

My grand father for instant... He used to be a quite healthy bloke, but then when he hit a certain age, he refused to leave his front room seat... Now, he can't walk, and after realising this he suffered quite a few mild strokes... Only mild ones, but they continued until he eventually lost his eye sight... He sits in Merlin Park Hospital, same thing everyday... Blind, imobile, and he's just waiting to pop... That's truly awful... The other thing is (Some of you know already - I already broke down about this a few times) that my mother is in a coma, and it was stated that she'll more than likely never wake up... But despite that they also say she's quite aware of her surroundings...

Now, if you saw her, you would be shocked...

She can't do anything - can't react to her surroundings etc... She either sits in a chair / lays down in bed (whichever the nurses feel fit) every day, and has done so for two years... Can you imagine being that imobile, and having to stay like that for years to come? Her immune system has diminished, and she's vulnerable to many deseases in that state...

She gets the odd visitor, but she can't interact... It's devastating to see...

Like I said, though, If I knew I was to pass peacfully, I wouldn't be too worried... But some of the things I've witness really do bring my thoughts on death to a negative level... I don't particularly want to die... I know I have to, eventually, but at what means will I pass away? That's the scary part for me...

Bard · 15-07-2001 12:52pm

Why fear the inevitable? It's going to happen- it happens to us all.

I have to wait that long to meet a few friends of mine again. I will meet them again- but not yet... not yet. ( spot the movie reference ... duhhh

)

Another movie reference... in the Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman's character notes that you can either get busy living or get budy dying. If you spend your life worrying about death, you're doing the latter.

Get busy living, I say! Think/worry about life when you're alive - leave the worrying about death for when you're dead.

Bard

I've got a plan... and it's as HOT... AS MY PANTS!!!" - Lord Flashheart.

Shinji · 15-07-2001 10:05pm

just imagine contracting AIDS / Cancer...

It would suck. That said, if I was told tomorrow that I had a terminal disease that currently has no cure, I don't think I'd hold on by a thread, having no quality of life and prolonging the agony for those around me just in the vain hope of a last minute cure or reprieve. I'd have a damn good time for a few months, do some things I've never done or never dared to do, say my goodbyes properly and do myself in before I had a chance to waste away. Yeah, yeah, suicide is wrong. But so is subjecting people you love to having to see you shrivel away into a pathetic shadow of your former self.

Or having your skeleton mashed into pulp and lying on your death bed, unimaginable pain etc...

"You have selected... SLOW AND PAINFUL"

Morphine, morphine, gotta love morphine. I'm not much up for the skeleton mashed to a pulp bit though, but if that happens to you, it'll be a pretty damn sudden accident that you have no control over; very few people go "jeez, if I do this, my skeleton will be mashed to a pulp, ah soddit, here we go"... Why worry about it?

Yeah, I've seen some people waste away and die slowly. It's not nice. My grandmother died last September after being practically immobile for months; seeing her in that state was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

I think the issue isn't being scared of death, it's being scared of a slow and painful death. Lets face it, I'm scared of slow and painful train journeys (so would you be if you had to commute to London every day).

Shinji · 15-07-2001 11:02pm

I'm not that worried about it. Yet.

If it comes naturally, it's a long way off. If it comes unnaturally, well, there isn't a lot I can do about it, eh, so why bother worrying now? I can't foresee the future.

Worry about the little things in life and the big things look after themselves. My life isn't as precious to me as the lives of those I love anyway.

When I do go... Fire or Ice. Cremation or cryogenic storage... Cremation, because I have a lurking fear of waking up 6 feet under in a buried box. Cryogenic storage, because I'd love to wake up in a few hundred years time, if only for a day, just to see where we've come.

Manach · 15-07-2001 11:35pm

As a traditionist, I'd prefer to be sent off in the Viking Way, ie a burning longship filled with plunder out to sea.
Then with my luck, it would be a rowing boat with obselete computer equipment on the Lee.

Oh yeah · 16-07-2001 12:01am

My grandmother is in hospital, she had a stroke. She's really weak, and she's lost an awful lot of weight. It's not nice to see her.

But nevertheless, as terrible as it is, what can I do? I can visit her and try to make her happy and then she'll maybe get better or maybe she'll die. Death is not a bad thing. It's simply an end to life.

I conviently believe that when you die, you are absolutely dead. If people wouldn't be freaked out way to much by it, I'd want my body launch out of a cannon as part of a hilarious funeral dealy with ****tail sausages and so on. And big balloons with paper money in 'em and everyone gets a cigarette lighter. And as they realise that it's fake money and someone finds the card that says "wah!" and they search for more gun powder. And I go sailing away into the sky.

Actually, it'd be so cool to be sent into orbit and have my body burn up in the atmosphere. That's just rock.

Of course I'd be dead, so the smart people would just dump me in a landfill and buy a Porche or three. Which is nice.

Knowing that death means *death* takes away a fear of most things. If you can't remember, you may as well do it. Though you won't regret having not done because you won't know that you could have but while you are alive you do know... Ehm.

Wah!

Life is like a pyrotechnics display. You've got to stand back and let it happen, othwerwise you're are sincerely bollocked....

thegreensock.com

Can you feel the love?

RopeDrink · 16-07-2001 1:22am

A fear of a slow, painful death is, regardless, a fear of death...

If it was known that I was to pass away nice a quietly, not a bother, but knowing that you can be threatened with something at anytime... Erk, I just don't take kindly to the thought...

I used to suffer from paranoia... Brought up ever since I was accused by the person(s) who basically caused my mothers coma, and the Gardai (Who took the time to investigate those rumours) - Funnily enough, the person(s) responsible were a vile pack of Dubliners (No offence to Dublin) who happened to move into the flat across from us... They stole from us, they threatened us, then attempted to push the blame onto me, and also, until that person(s) were actualy arrested a year and a half ago for drug handling and damage of property, I felt ok...

My phobia of death isn't paranoia, merely the wish to keep alive...

SantaHoe · 16-07-2001 6:21am

Originally posted by Oh yeah:
If people wouldn't be freaked out way to much by it, I'd want my body launch out of a cannon as part of a hilarious funeral dealy with ****tail sausages and so on.

LMAO

Funniest thing I've read on the boards in ages.
That'd be cool though, can I come to your funeral?

My phobia of death isn't paranoia, merely the wish to keep alive...

Self preservation personified.
I dread to think what I'd be doing if I wasn't at all bothered about dying, driving around at 90Mph, steering with my feet?
It has its good points.

Xterminator · 16-07-2001 7:45am

I don't belive in re-incarnation, but wouldn't it be great?

Anyone who f**ked you over in this life, you get another shot at them. You can meet the person you love and fall in love all over again, and generally not make all the mistakes (or hopefully not make some of them ) over again.

And of course you get to be a colonist on another planet ect.

A bit like being in the movies, ie beat the bad guy and get the girl!
(Eventually if you live enough lives you know the odds are it will happen).

[This message has been edited by Xterminator (edited 16-07-2001).]

Shinji · 16-07-2001 5:04pm

My phobia of death isn't paranoia, merely the wish to keep alive...

Offer me immortality and I'll take it.

I don't expect anyone to offer any time soon, though, so I won't be disappointed if nobody pipes up

TacT · 16-07-2001 5:44pm

Life is there for the living, when your dead you won't even know it and may only anticipate it for a split second or in the case of terminal illness then you may be looking toward it for quite some time, I tend to not bother thinking about it much, life is too short

.ak · 16-07-2001 6:14pm

I don't wanna be immortal... Too much 0wnage. :P

Maybe invincable, but I wouldn't like to live for hundreds upon thousands of years. :P

-Dark-Angel-

androphobic · 16-07-2001 7:12pm

I'm not scared of dying. I'm scared of being left behind.

Kali · 16-07-2001 8:01pm

god this is all very morbid.

three points:

1) Death is a long way away for most of us, live each day as full as you can... have fun for ****s sake, stop talking about this

2) Don't smoke. I've had my gran die of lung cancer, its a very horrible state to be in.

3) I don't necessarily fear death itself, more missing the people I'm close to and how they'd be affected.

entropi · 17-07-2001 2:47pm

you have no reasons to fear me my child....

"that island has freedom written all over it, sir, that's cuba"

[This message has been edited by Death Sentence (edited 17-07-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Death Sentence (edited 18-07-2001).]

TwoShedsJackson · 17-07-2001 3:35pm

Death Sentence, that's the scariest red x ever. Having said that, the url of the pic links to a picture I am familiar with from the SA forums, and you may rest assured that if you correct the link so that picture displays here, you'll be banned in short order.

Also, it's a Photoshop job.

DadaKopf · 17-07-2001 3:43pm

By Bard:
Why fear the inevitable?

Exactly.

Shiminay · 17-07-2001 3:45pm

First of all - great topic Rope!

Here are my thoughts (in no particular order)...

I believe in Re-incarnation. Growing up as a Catholic, I was taught the heaven and hell bit and all that and it never meant a lot to me. When I got older, I realised that I had absolutley no belief in any of the teachings of the church and I became very afraid of death and what would happen to me - I mean freaked - sleepless nights and cold sweats - the lot! But then I thought about re-incarnation - it appealed to me so I'm sticking with that for the moment.

Also, I'm with the Burnies - I prefer Cremation to burrial - not too sure why - I think it's because it's a more definite end to your life (no chance of waking up in a coffin).

One thing I've noticed Rope - you seem to be really on the side of Euthanasia (I prob spelt that wrong). Having read your post - it's understandable. I'm still not sure on this subject...

Just my thoughts - maybe the topic's a little morbid, but very valid and worth while...

All the best!
Dav
@B^)
So Bob Hoskins was about to roll a spliff when in walks Dana with her 3 foot Bong
[honey i] violated [the kids]
When the Beefy King arrives, I shall be paying homage with Puunack The Receiver in a haze of green curry.

Greenbean · 17-07-2001 4:39pm

Immortality would be a far worse curse on someone than death imo. Try to think of what would be bad about immorality and you'll know why it freaks me out.

entropi · 18-07-2001 8:33am

Hey castor, don't worry. The message has been edited to stop the pic....and save my place here. BTW, how would that pic get me banned, what types of pic are in the banned list?

"that island has freedom written all over it, sir, that's cuba"

entropi · 18-07-2001 8:46am

Well i should have said this in one of the other posts but i don't want to drown, thats the only thing i'm really afraid of even though i'm a good swimmer it can happen....

I believe in ghosts and re-incarnation but i want to be buried like most people. I want somewhere that my family know where my final reesting place is,instead of them wondering...where are his ashes now

"that island has freedom written all over it, sir, that's cuba"

TwoShedsJackson · 18-07-2001 9:19am

Originally posted by Death Sentence:
Hey castor, don't worry. The message has been edited to stop the pic....and save my place here. BTW, how would that pic get me banned, what types of pic are in the banned list?

It would likely get you banned as it's pretty gruesome, to say the least. As I work in a medical bookshop it doesn't affect me

but bear in mind that people read these boards in work and so on, and that image is not exactly the sort of thing one wants displayed on one's monitor for the boss to see.

You with me?

entropi · 18-07-2001 9:29am

I hear ya.

"that island has freedom written all over it, sir, that's cuba"

Bob the Unlucky Octopus · 18-07-2001 9:30am

I've seen that picture too- it was on SA.com and created by a group of Forensic Pathology students at JHU Med shortly after I graduated...sick bunch of f*ckers all round. Not only gruesome, but in poor taste. Then again, the same could be said for most of my gross anatomy/surgery texts...though you get used to it after the first year.

Back on topic, I've thought about it long and hard, but never with a great deal of fear. If great tortuous and apparently hopeless pain was involved, I would have no compunctions about ending my own life, or having someone assist in the matter. In very specific and detailed circumstances, I firmly believe that euthanasia/suicide is an acceptable way out. That gets us into the euthanasia debate- but on the subject of death itself- as a Hindu I believe very strongly in the idea of reincarnation, and the idea that my passive consciousness will never perish...so death holds no fear as it is fated and inevitable. That's what my culture tells me- what my own head has to say about the matter though, is something I still am not completely sure about yet. Though I think the day I figure it out (if it ever comes) is probably going to be the day I snuff it.

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

solo1 · 18-07-2001 6:57pm

I'm not afraid of death at all. Bring it on.

JustHalf · 18-07-2001 7:31pm

Give me your address. I'll bring the hacksaw.

RopeDrink · 18-07-2001 9:55pm

Im not fond of the idea of re-incarnation...

It all depends on what you get re-incarnated as... I doubt thatif such a thing actualy happened, and with the mass amount of different species of creatures, you were guaranteed to come back as a human...

My thoughts on religion are dire... I take no heed for it, but I do respect it... People have their own belief's, and you cant criticise anyone for it... I just don't believe in believing... I don't particularly believe in god, as such, but respect the fact that we were created (along with everything) by... something...

God, if there happens to be one, could be anything... I personally think if you believe in god he/she/it is whatever you believe it to be... It doesn't have to be a big old bloke sitting on a white cloud with a white tasche and a white beard etc, it could be a horse... Or a rock... You never know...

Heaven and Hell? Both are derived from your existance... I don't belieev you actualy go to either after the unfortunate event of your death, I belive you live either here on earth... If you happen to have a happy life, thats your heaven... Enjoy it... Should you happen to live a crap existance, that's your hell... I find my problem is that im living the latter...

RopeDrink · 18-07-2001 10:00pm

I also believe that I'm an awful bag full of bad spellings...

SantaHoe · 18-07-2001 10:13pm

Originally posted by Kharn:
Also, I'm with the Burnies - I prefer Cremation to burrial - not too sure why - I think it's because it's a more definite end to your life (no chance of waking up in a coffin)

Didn't think there was any chance of that anyway... in this day and age, in the civilised world... don't the mortitians drain your bodies fluids, stick things in here and there, pump you full of embalming fluid.
And you'd surely be 190% dead from suffocation after being in the sealed coffin for a few hours.
What about waking up while being cremated though? - or would that be a great laugh?

Bard · 18-07-2001 10:21pm

I'm with Kharn on cremation. I've no intention of taking up space in a graveyard... a patch of land like that could be put to much better use.

Bard

I've got a plan... and it's as HOT... AS MY PANTS!!!" - Lord Flashheart.

Shinji · 18-07-2001 11:10pm

Oh, I know there are various problems with immortality, but it all depends on what kind of person you are really... and what your idea of immortality is.

My idea of immortality would involve being in a healthy body with a healthy mind for eternity. I could live with that. Okay, you have to watch those around you grow old and die (assuming it's an unnatural immortality, and not a treatment available to all), but... Well, if you're like me, that's a nasty thing but outweighed by the desire to see where we go. People who view all of life as an education and relish it for that are more likely to enjoy long life, simply because they are still enthralled by new things right up to their last breaths...

OConnor · 19-07-2001 9:14pm

Originally posted by Kali:

Don't smoke. I've had my gran die of lung cancer, its a very horrible state to be in.

This man has the right idea. Smoking is evil,
and presents one with a voluntary ethical decision :
1.Smoke 2.Dont Smoke
This is the same as:
1.Begin Dying 2.Live
There are two types of people, not Black and white, not rich and poor, not male and female.
Smoker and Non-Smoker.
(thats why they put it in the personal ads.)
I cannot have any respect for a person who chooses to smoke, and is aware of the risks.
Smokers become acholics, drug-users, gamblers.

(sorry to go off topic)
I can be morbid too.. look.. gee.. how depressing.. be brave

androphobic · 19-07-2001 10:35pm

Originally posted by OConnor:
Smokers become acholics, drug-users, gamblers.

Could you please explain your reasoning behind this?

Shinji · 19-07-2001 11:14pm

It's phrased wrong but the meaning is right. The vast, vast majority of alcoholics and drug users were smokers.

Of course, this opens a pandoras box debate, since I'm technically a drug user since I smoke cannabis, but I've never been a tobacco smoker... yadda yadda yadda. Let's leave this one out, or take it to another thread.

nanook · 20-07-2001 6:34am

i am new to the boards as some of you will all realise very quickly but the conversation of death the final day of your life is enivatable (Pardon the spellings), there is nothing we can do to delay or prevent it. The final day can come today or 20 years down the road we have no control so this is my outlook. If there is someone you love tell them, if there is somthing you want to do in life then strive to fulfill that goal or ambition, what would you prefer to be known as the person who did or the person who couldnt be bother'd. Billy Connolly said it best
"You pass this way but once, do as you damn well please"
This is now, live it, my one thought is that if you died tomorrow is there anything that you regret not doing.

[This message has been edited by nanook (edited 20-07-2001).]

Shiminay · 20-07-2001 8:24am

nanook - that reminds me somewhat of Tyler's speech in Fight Club when himself and Jack are driving down a highway and he asks 2 of the members in the back what they'd regret not having done before they died

Then they're in a car crash and it's all very messy.

As for waking up while being cremated - that'd be some craic - I'd scream as loudly as possible to leave a haunting sound to the b@st@rds that left me for dead!
I don't see it as a posibility that I'd actually be burried and not be dead, but the fear lingers...

Anyway, nanook has the right idea - live life now and fluck the begrudgers!

All the best!
Dav
@B^)
So Bob Hoskins was about to roll a spliff when in walks Dana with her 3 foot Bong
[honey i] violated [the kids]
When the Beefy King arrives, I shall be paying homage with Puunack The Receiver in a haze of green curry.

solo1 · 22-07-2001 4:22pm

I've seen cannibas act as a gateway drug to tobacco. It's not pleasant. Soon these people even start to light up during daylight hours, and then outside!

You lose your friends. When they were just smoking hash, it was fine, but then they moved onto tobacco and it just ... it just got out of control. I remember one incident at a restaurant where I asked a friend of mine (who is a tobacco abuser) to not light up during the meal. Without a word, (although there was a look in his eye which seemed to accuse me of being the bad guy) he pointed to a sign behind him, clearly identifying the area as a 'Smoking Section'.

Dammit! It's not about sections! I want my friends back!

RopeDrink · 22-07-2001 4:47pm

Nice to see the thread flourished a little...

Funnily enough, im smoking while typing this... The topic of smoking has been discussed at lenght many time's on mIRC...

All it takes is a "Damn, I need a fag!" comment, and everyone then expresses how they feel towards the matter...

Smoking *is* bad, yet just because you smoke doesn't mean you are not aware of the risks...

I've only recently taken up smoking as a semi-regular habit, and have smoked some ammount of hash a few years ago (Which I refrain from doing lately) and am very aware of the dangers...

I claimed above that I was afraid of death, yet I can open up a box of ciggerettes, take one out, light up, and knowingly drag five minutes of my life down the pipe-line... (Research once claimed that a each cig takes five minutes of your life - True or not, im willing to believe that) so why do I do it?

Im extremely scared of long term killer deseases such as AIDS and Cancer, but that topic was also discussed on mIRC and in one of my threads in the Science board, which neutralised quite ammount of fear because of some peoples comments... You'd be suprised what you could learn just by taking heed of everyones intelligent view.

I don't enjoy smoking, I don't enjoy losing any money I recieve simply by buying something that could kill me in the long run, yet I do it anyway...

It's not cancer that scares me anymore, just death in general.

Death... Well Not Death *As Such*...

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Death... Well Not Death As Such...