How do you want to leave this world?
 

Sometimes I think about how I'd like to die. So many angles one may consider. I don't see death as a negative, or an end. I see it more as part of living a wonderful life.

Die in private or in the public eye? Probably private. Ive always been a private person.

Do I want it to make a big change and inevitably have controversy over my death? (biggest example of that type of death would be jesus) Oddly enough I don't think I care if my death will make a big splash or even be noticed (..well hopefully my loved ones will notice :) )

Violent or peaceful? I have a minor theory that one is most alive right before death. So fighting for one's life against a large predatory cat would be the most "livingful" moment before one dies. But then again I love the idea of going like some monks go, suicide with major style. They basically stop their hearts and die because they willed it so, talk about will power!

A sub category of private would be do I want any loved ones around? I do and I don't. I wouldn't want to cause grief, but I'd want my last moments to be filled with love.

Die doing something I love? Or in a sick bed when I'm really old? This one is a tough one, and one I'm glad I don't actually have to decide! I just don't know if I want watch/feel myslef grow old and feeble (and I'm talkin 70+ here, not like 40 or something :) )

Recorded in history? This could be anything from being mentioned as part of a death toll in a war to being an assasinated president. I don't really care, if it helps change for the better then that would be good but I really don't care about any fame my corpse would receive.

As for what to do with my remains, I don't care too much. Ill be dead and see no attatchment to my physical body to my soul. But if I had a choice, I'd want to be cremated. I have this fear that I will still be able to feel my body getting burned when I'm dead, but then again if that happens I'd rather have a relatively fast destruction from fire than a slow one burried in a coffin. After cremation if any monument is to be had, I'd want to be mixed with very rich fertilizer and a tree planted in me.

So how would you like to die? And can anyone think of any new angles?

Just a funny quote:

As easy as possible, that's how I'd like to die.
I don't see any practical importance in wondering how I will die, I spend time thinking about how to live my life, now that has purpose.

The question is how you'd like to die, not wondering how you will. It will lend insight on knowledge of yourself, which is one of the most important things you can learn.

"To know others is intelligence, to know thyself is wisdom."

i daydream of a big finale, the heroic firefight, LOTR style stuff, or whatever. i think i'm hollywood all the way on that count.

when i really stop to think...i just want to be near family and friends when i say goodbye. the rest really doesn't matter.

All I ask is that it isn't in the back of an ambulence or in a hospital. Once you are in the healthcare field you really find it sad.

..........Happy.....nothing more

Indeed. The last few months have opened my eyes to that.

I'm not sure where it comes from, and I'm not entirely comfortable saying it, but I've always expected to go out in a ball of fire. No romanticism or fantasy of glory involved. I've been burned enough to know better. It's just an image that has persisted since my reckless automotive exploits. I'd choose something more pleasant. Cardiac arrest banging a beautiful woman. Skydiving with a faulty chute, and enough time to get a grip and enjoy the rest. Anything fulfilling. Just not something that'd make loved ones think I'd regret it. You don't have to get very old to realize most of the pain of death remains with the people left behind.

I think I would like a quiet death.. probably at home or in a hospital with friends and family. I wouldn't mind if I were bed ridden.. I would have time to reflect on some wonderful things in my life.

I can't see how I'd be recorded in history.. that is something I don't think I'd have any control over. I have no desire to be famous or to cause any controversy.

I'd like to go in a pine box, buried. None of this expensive casket drama. The idea of a burial is appealing to me, organic. Worms crawling through my remains is a thought that appeals to me.. :confused:

I would like everybody to savour what I meant and be comforted that I had a great life and appreciated everbody for who they were. I don't want everyone I knew to be mourning my passing.

There is also something that I'm looking forward to, regarding my passing. I do have a curiosity about what may happen, though if it doesn't then it wont hardly matter :)

When my father came back from Vietnam, an expression when someone was killed was "That lucky bastard got an early pass".. Sometimes I can relate to that expression..

after a long, good life... hopefully quick and painless.

When I die I want them to bury me face down so the world can KISS MY ASS!!! :lol:

I was asked this in the hotseat - -and my answer is the same.. .

When I was younger, my answer to this question was I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, go out in such a way it would be talked about for years. It was a way to never be forgotton. Later years, I just want to leave quietly, no fanfare, just quietly disapear, that I don't have to be remembered, and I don't want to be remembered.

But the mark that I want to leave on this world I take from the poem, Success, that has always been incorrectly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson... I want to leave the world knowing that just one life has breathed easier because I have lived. I'm just waiting to find that one life...

Free fall. The anticipation of the plane taking off, watching the land leave through the window. On a clear day, flying to a place high over the ocean where there is no land in sight. Surrounded by shades of blue, deep and light. And then the shining of the sun, burning through the eyes, leaving no room for thoughts of what is about to happen.

So simple...and so very true.

My only addendum to this would be, I would like to leave my friends and family a little better than how they found me and vice versa.

Well how I want to leave this world... in a space craft of own design!
That is what I hope to do before I die, gallivant in microgravity. No matter what, space makes for interesting ways to die... all of them wouldn't change the fact that I am in space for a brief time.

If it's anything violent, I'd prefer to be getting between whoever's committing a violent act and etiher a loved one or innocent people. If it's quick and painless, I'm partial to a Dr. Strangelove-style bomb ride. If it's old age, I'll be perfectly happy going to sleep one night and not waking up the next morning. If it's political, I'd be satisfied with a public execution by a repressive government for revolutionary activities.

I think I covered everything there.

I'd like to just have a heart attack while I lay sleeping in post coital bliss. I used to think that mid orgasm would be best, but that would just be akward for whomever I was with.

I don't want people to mourn my passing. I want them to celebrate my life. In lieu of flowers, everyone bring a fifth and raise me a toast.

Because I'm just a little strange and I want my final farewell to be memorable, and because It pays homage to my darker and more romantic side....the side of me that only those closest to me know....I want a candle light funeral at dusk in a very old cemetary.

Hmmmm....twisted comic relief....I had a set of custom fangs made when I was in New Orleans a few years ago....to be laid out with a cocky grin and those sticking out of my mouth a tad....That could be fun.

Heart attack induced by the adrenaline overdose of an hour long orgasm. Preceeded by oh, a hundred orgasms in the hour leading up to the hour long sustained orgasm.

Humorous as this may sound, I'm actually serious as a . . . I can't say it.

This would, of course, be some 10 million years from now, during which I and my dearest loved ones will have stayed young and vital and involved in society and humanity.

Now there's an idea!

Lemme know if you ever need any help :lol:

I wish to die by my own hand, using the helium method.

When is a totally different question.

For a noble cause.

'Tis one of the best reasons. To die for a noble cause is a worthy ending.

Although I would like to die peacefully, I feel that it is better to die in the service of the greater good. I have no interest to die sensationally, mind you, just in a way that has as much purpose as I hope my life will have.

With no regrets, no second guessing and at least one person to say 'thank you' for me
being in their life.

Physically, time enough to say goodbye, but quick enough as to not suffer.

Damn it! You beat me to it.

Yeah, I'd like to leave this earth in either a space craft or with the aid of a really big catapult.

I wouldn't mind dying in a bed from old age, so long as my mind is still intact, I would rather be crucified than die in a state of dementia/confusion/fear/loss of self.

So I would like to die either of a body failing from old age, or in some really abnormal way, say, if I die in a car crash I want at least 100 other vehicles in it and other people to join me in my journey into whatever lies beyond. Or going skydiving, having my shute fail, and me landing on the president's limo, while he/she is inside. Or spontanious combustion in a crowded area with plenty of high quality cameras rolling. Or being the first to be infected with a deadly disease that wipes out the human race. Just stuff like that.

Least preferred method of death, losing my life trying to keep those I love safe, and failing to do so. First reason why: I would fail to keep those I love safe. Second: I would have failed to keep them out of that situation in the first place. Third: I would no longer be able to protect them in the future. Fourth: The people I love would have to go through the grief and loss of my death.

But my number one, favorite way that I would like to die is: Pushing the button on an antimatter bomb that shatters the planet into a bazillion pieces, this of course would happen after everyone I know and love has already died, preferrebly in a peaceful and painless manner. Why? Because I would like to save people from the torturously boring existence that would occur after my death.

Hmm, I'm not sure why, but I see losing my mind to be an interesting concept.. to see things through a different perspective, I'm sure your day would be full of scary but amazing little surprises..

my grandmother died of alzheimers/dementia complications when I was in my early teens.... Towards the end, I dont beleive that she was aware of what was happening to her. I was no longer her granddaughter, I was her childhood friend. Dementia/Alzheimers is much tougher on the caretakers than it is on the person who has it... becuase all that you knew -- slips away... My grandmother went from a very vivicaious elegant woman who wore chanel suits and had cool jewelry and blue rinses in her hair -- to an emaciated woman in a hospital bed who wore a diaper and couldn't feed herself. It was very difficult for my mother watching the woman who took c are of her -- have to totally rely on her for everything and not be aware of who she was.

yep, good point! Maybe I could lose it a little and go before it's too much for everyone.. that would be better for everyone all round, I'd get to experience it briefly while not becoming a burden for myself and others for too long.

One word, fast. I don't really care about the method just the speed. I don't want to die in bed after a long drawn out illness. I would also like my wife to die at the same time, I don't want to spend years missing her and I wouldn't want her to go through that either.

Maybe a shark attack, at least then my overpowering fear of sharks would then be justified

i would want to die peacefully in my sleep when i am old (peferably over 100 yrs old) having lived life to the fullest.

I'd like to die in my sleep. Who wouldnt. But after that i would like to be frozen and then thawed out in 200 or 500 years. It would be so cool to see the future.

I would want to die with my family around me, not mourning my death but celebrating it. Not because I was an ass, but because I left a legacy that would last through the ages. Dying with love... yes thats how I want to die.

I want to die surrounded in love

Love to die peacefully. heroism would be nice for the 15 mins ppl remember how you died, after that no one would remember or care because they'd be side tracked by some new scandal in the media. your mark on the world/good deed erased due to some lieing politician, murder, bank robbery, or pretty much everything else in this world.

and the more i think about it, the less i care about future generations remembering me. it doesn't matter if 100 years from now ppl remember my name, as they won't know who I was. Only the ppl who know me personally will know that... and in 10,000 years when ppl no longer inhabit this planet, will even that matter? I mean... sure we remember shakespear, but do you know what type of person was or only for his writting?

When I die I just want those I've been close to or hopefully help remember me, not neccesarily for myself either... I just want my loved ones to hopefully learn what they could from me, my actions, way of life, ideas... then they spread what they've learned to other ppl. in that way at least who I am can be passed on to other generations and not some false image of me. (sorry, kind of a hard concept to put into words... :P )

after that, I want to be creamated and my ashes poured into some river. as for the funeral, I don't want it to be mournful... asking a lot, but yeah... i want ppl to be happy that I was a part of their life and a positive one at that. I don't want the loss to overshadow the gain...

i've never been afraid to eat a rare hamburger - i've always said that dying from eating would be worth it. but now, after really thinking about the specifics... i don't think that some violent intestinal disruption is really what i'd choose. if it happens, so be it. but if i get to choose....

jumping out of an airplane over the middle of the ocean. i love both sky diving & scuba diving. this could be the ultimate combination, albeit super brief. i imagine i'd die instantly from impact on the water and my body would sink to the bottom of the deep blue sea to become fish food. if somehow i lived, i'd surely be too broken to swim, so i'd get to experience the horror of drowning, only it wouldn't be a horror. i'd just have to turn myself over to it completely. i'd have the chance to say goodbye to loved ones. to make sure they're properly cared for, etc.

now surely this is suicide (and would void any life insurance claim! damn.) and maybe not what you had in mind. so maybe i'd just choose....

in my sleep. to dream for all eternity.

Sitting peacefully in a big armchair, with my journal on my lap, surrounded by pictures of my loved ones and great grandchildren... and a cup of tea cooling on the table next to me.

I want to leave happy and peacefully. I'm not saying that there aren't causes I wouldn't die for, but I'd rather not need to.

[QUOTE=Gilda]Heart attack induced by the adrenaline overdose of an hour long orgasm. Preceeded by oh, a hundred orgasms in the hour leading up to the hour long sustained orgasm.QUOTE]

DEATH BY SNU SNU!!!

I would have to say, taking my own life, in trade of, saving somone elses.

Old age typing on TFP! :D

Well, I wouldn't mind dying heroically or for a noble cause, but most importantly I want to have my "final death thoughts."

I don't know how much sense that makes, so I'll try and explain a but further. When I die, I want to experience it and accept it, I don't want to die panicked or without warning. I don't want a long, drawn out death, but I don't want to go so quick that I can't come to terms with it.

I suppose if I had to choose, I would like to bleed to death. Burning or Drowning are two ways I'd like to avoid, and I think having a mental disorder where I am unaware of what is going on or who I am is the absolute worst way for me...

The details of my death arn't important, I just ask 2 things:
1. it be quick
2. and i make the 6 o'clock news.

Peacefully asleep like my grandfather did, but not screaming in agony and terror like his passengers.

I want to be torn apart by wild animals.

Sure, it would be painfull and terrifying but that part would pass fairly quickly.
The primal nature of such an act appeals to me. What better way to go than to be reclaimed by the natural order of things. I imagine alligators would be my first choice followed closely by hyenas.

Maybe both if I am lucky.

if i must die young... then i would choose to die carrying out my oath of office in combat.

if not, then i would want to pass away at home at a ripe old age. i wouldn't want to die in my sleep, i want to be awake in order to analyze the experience as much as i could... though it may be painful.

I would like to go while I am focused, and engaged fully. I want to be confident that this death of mine is a full death. I want to be beyond, or through, or unconcerned with the shock of my death.

Eyes wide open.

In my sleep.

I've for years thought that I'd prefer to die by throwing myself at the Sun.

I still think that.

I do not know if that would be physical, spiritual, or both.

I do know that I plan to be quite old (chronologically) when this happens.

either in my sleep or dying while doing what i love to do.

I want to die on the computer playing against my best friends and wife playing Counter-Strinke or something.
I want to be cremated. Then I want my ashes to be sprinkled around The Nintendo Co. Building.

With someone I trust, holding my hand and telling me it's okay to go.

Anytime I've pondered this question I always reach the same conclusion:

I want to be killed in a car accident - one that isn't my fault.

Hopefully, if the technology within my life permits it I will never die, either by vast medical advances, or transfering my brain into a computer. Failing this i'd like to die in space somehow. So that maybe I would be preserved (i hope.., falling into a star or planet might be bad) until an alien species or advanced human race in the future would find me and bring me back to life using their high tech medical equptment. (like in 3001: The Final Odyssey :thumbsup: )

I want to die having left my children capable and strong in this world.... But I want to go out in some way that is actually funny... like getting run over by a truck load of clown shoes or something.. People should say " that could only happen to HIM."

There's no way I can leave yet, but if I do die so young..

I suppose I want to go out in an ironclad battle to save hundreds of lives.

Most definitely with a bit of dignity, not having lost my bowel functions while drooling on myself. I hope to have had my heart give out in my sleep long before that happens.

locked in an sealed air-tight room with a pen and paper.

Into the Bermuda Triangle with me...

That's tough.. I think if it was a terminal illness, and I was told I had two weeks to a month to live.. I'd go on a vigilante spree. I'd go after all the corrupt things in life that I wanted to rectify but couldn't, for fear of bodily injury. I'd try to kill a famous terrorist, kill an abusive pimp, something vigilante but justified and necessary.

If it were an accident, I'd definitely want to be driving. I love driving, and I've told my loved ones that if I hit something and die instantly.. and the forensics come back with no skid marks and above-100 speed.. you can be sure I was smiling when I died.

If it has to be drawn out, I'd prefer bleeding to death as well. I'd get my chance to "impart wise words" to those I love, comfort them and wish them well, and then exit the world soon after.. with little pain.

I really don't care if anyone remembers me, or if I'm in a history book.. but I'd also like my death to be something that says "that's him," if at all possible. I'm pretty clumsy, so something like tripping and stabbing myself to death, accidently falling out of a window, or having a car fall on me would work nicely as well.

If I had to commit suicide, it would definitely either be crashing into something with my car.. hard and fast.. or a lethal injection of something like heroin..

Jeesh.. all this talk of dying!

I don't plan on dying.

I will have my consciousness downloaded into a very large harddrive and live in a virtual world that looks surprisingly like Sydney.

i wuoldnt want to die for what i beleive to be a noble cause..i am wrong too often!!
i would like to die asleep...as someone said it is probably the best way in manyaspects!!!

i wuold like to be content whilst i was alive..before i die.. :thumbsup:

Presuming I am in factr mortal, I'd like the traditional "dying so than another might live" death. I'd like to think it was noble.

I'm not that afraid of death. I'd like to think (i) I've led a good life and (ii) there's someone looking out for me when my number's up.

I want to die sitting on a porch in India looking over the Indian Ocean at the stars while sipping on a drink in a coconut while smoking flavored tobacco from a hookah with my friends.

If I had it my way, I would revert to this moment at the time of my death.

Quickly and preferably without the knowledge that I'm actually dying. I don't need to say goodbye or ponder my life. I don't wait to tell my family and friends that I love them. Hopefully in a way that they can use my organs and burn me up, Scotty.

My family's been complaining that they won't have a place to "visit" me if I get scattered, so I've finally agreed to let them bury a small amount of me in a pine box decorated by my friends and family with Sharpies and acrylic paint. I work for a Hospice program, so I've long since filled out my Five Wishes (living will). My family thinks I'm morbid. But I refuse to be on machines or linger on. And I'd better not be too old, I can't stand the thought of being 90 and a burden on my loved ones, unable to do the things I enjoy!

I read an article once saying that many health professionals would actually prefer to die of cancer. They said with cancer you have time to accept death and say goodbye and maybe do a couple things you wished you had done in life. They said the drugs would help with the pain of dying. Many people don't want a violent death in a car accident or a sudden death like a heart attack. Cancer is a slow death that could give the time to reflect on your life. Personally I really don't know how I would want to go. I've heard that freezing to death is quite peaceful, but how would you really know? I think however you go the body does what it can to make the process as painless as possible, considering you're dying and all.

I guess we'll all find out eventually.