.
If I didn't fear death I would have blown my brains out by now.
I don't fear death even slightly.
But I do fear the how.
If it's not an accident then it's most likely to be old age,
and I've seen enough deaths of ancients to know that only a very few are lucky enough to die peacefully and painlessly in their sleep.
Oh dear. Not the response I expected. I am so sorry that you feel that way Patchouli. I hope things get better enough for you that you don't ever actually do that. Here comes the lecture whether you want or not. You don't have to read it. My best friend Effie committed suicide in the mid-1980's. A gunshot wound to the head. Many decades ago. Not a day goes by that I don't feel guilty. Same with her parents and children and siblings and friends. WHY? Because we blame ourselves for not knowing or seeing that she was in so much pain. She never said a word to any of us. But we still feel guilty. I tell you this because if you were to do that you would be sentencing those who lov
e you to a lifetime of guilt and pain. I know from experience. I just thought I would share that with you. Thank you for your reply and Happy Wednesday! :)
I don't know if I mentioned this to you ever before hartfire. My dad used to work nights and every afternoon he would take a nap before he left for work. One day he didn't wake up. I always thought that was his reward for being such a good man. That would be how I'd want to die. Peacefully. I saw him before the Coroner took the body away and he had a slight smile on his face. Possibly from having had a very nice dream. Of course I don't know the how for me but that is my preference for obvious reasons!
Thank you for your reply m'dear and Happy Wednesday! :)
Happy for you, your Dad and your family that he went peacefully like that.
To misquote Auden: Let us go gently into that good night.
No point fearing what can't be avoided Rosie. It will be one of the very few things we will all share. I find a certain 'rightness' in that thought.
Naturally, we would all hope to 'leave the party' as Christopher Hitchens put it, in a dignified way and with as little discomfort as possible. As that will not be given to everyone and I think it's natural for us to be concerned with the 'how'.
Thankfully, I have access to enough insulin to kill kill me in very short order. If the process all gets a bit too unpleasant for me, I have an easier way out. :)
It is one of the most comforting things. No. The ONLY comforting thing about his death my friend. He was on
ly 54. Young by today's standards. Thank you for your reply hartfire and Happy Thursday! :)
Goodness that sounds very painful MrWitch. So you have Diabetes then? I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic several years ago. The doctor explained it to me this way. As we age our systems do not process/metabolize as efficiently as they used to do. It isn't that was eating too much sugar. It's that the metabolizing of what was there wasn' as efficient as it used to be. So I eliminated pretty much all sugar. My diet was healthy going in so I didn't really have to adjust what I eat by much. I used to have a dish of caramels out and have a few each day. Now I have sugar-free Werther''s caramels and they taste pretty good but I seem to have lost my taste for them. I also eat the Atkins line of "energy" bars. All sugar-free and low carb. That is when I want something sweet but I don't want to harm my body . Anyway would such a death be painful/prolonged? I hope it would never come to that for you my friend. I believe strongly in euthanasia and I think I might have told you that in California it is now legal. Some argue that it is only God's right to take a life. I think that's bullsh**! Why would anyone want a loved one to linger in agony day after day after day
with no quality of life possible? How cruel is that? Thank you for your reply! :)
Yes, since I was 12 Rosie. Type 1 developed inside two months and all my plans (I was set for an officer commission in the Black Watch, thanks to one of my uncles) flew out the window!
So far my immune system has tried to kill me twice, but lovely doctors and medical science have put a block on both attempts. Like the rest of me, my immune system seems pretty incompetent, so I'm still here. :)
As for painful/prolonged, it almost certainly wouldn't be. It wouldn't exactly be pleasant (all bodies fight if put under enough pressure), but there are things I could do to minimise that - for example a very good bottle of red wine or two and a very large consumption of cannabis.
That, plus a massive dose of fast acting insulin, would see me off within a few hours. I'd lose consciousness first, then slip from unconsciousness to coma fairly quickly. After that, it's a fait accompli and I should be gone in a few hours. It's not something I'm planning, but it's nice to have a plan if one is needed. :)
Is Euthanasia illegal in your country my friend? I would definitely want to be in the hospital with medical professionals helping me through it. For one thing it would be so much easier on my loved ones. The burden would be controlled by the professionals and they would not have to be responsible for any of it. I think it is a kindness and provides dignity that we all deserve. I think you know that my brother-in-law suffered terribly from cancer which eventually metastasized throughout his entire body and toward the end he was in constant agony and could not get relief. So my sister -in-law woke up one morning and went to the bathroom and there he was..dead.. having shot himself in the head. Nevada did not and maybe still does not have a legal way to end one's life. It's moot now because my sister-in-law died a few years ago from emphysema she contracted because my brother-in-law smoked so much for so many years. Very sad all the way around. Gosh. Know any good jokes? How about some bad one? I always kill the punchline. I am
probably the world's LOUSIEST joke teller. Thank you for your reply MrWitch! :) ((hugs))
Sad that you lost him so young. Clearly, you loved him, perhaps even now still regret losing him so early. I feel for you.
That was in January 1960 m'dear. He had smoked for many years and he quit because the doctor said it was affecting his heart. That was way back when cigarettes were not known to be the death sticks they are. He might have gotten cancer if he kept smoking and lived long enough. Thank you for your reply hartfire! :)
I fear death, don't really fear the how, seeing as it's inevitable. I'm afraid that when I die, I'll be gone forever. There is no afterlife... My consciousness will simply cease to exist.... That sounds scary af.
Haha same here
Here's the thing Trixy. NO ONE KNOWS! People have opinions but NO ONE WHO IS ALIVE NOW KNOWS. So here's what I would like to think will happen. "Life" in the Afterlife will go on as usual. Only there will be no illness or pain or wars or hate. There will still be differences of
opinion which will be discussed with polite respect. Now of course I have no way of knowing but what can it hurt to think it? Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday! :)
