What's more important to you? Long life, or living life to the fullest?

[Guaranteed]

I realize that many will say that you should do both, live it to the fullest and healthiest at the same time.

But....I hate to make a musical or astrological reference...

There were so many who pulled out all the stops before us in order to, in my mind, affect the world in the way that they needed to. They refused to take it easy for their own sake, at the expense of the world around them.

Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brad Nowell, MLK Jr., Gandhi, RFK...

More straightforward....if you felt that in order to be MOST effective in the world, you had to die before the age of 50, would you do it, or retire in that endeavor to allow a longer, perhaps more family-oriented life?

What's more important to you?

This is something I'm seriously struggling with right now. I've come to a turning point in my life, I feel like....and while I may not affect the world like an RFK did, the choice is nevertheless the same.

[Jamastiene]

1. I would have to say

living life to the fullest. I can't think of one good reason to live to be 150 if I'm not enjoying myself as much as humanly possible...

[Guaranteed]

4. My girlfriend doesn't like that idea.

I promised her I'd make it to 50 (I'm in my mid-twenties). But she wants me around past just our childrens' graduation from high school.

My children would be SO important to me. But we all understand what our country is confronting right now. And in order to confront it, I feel like I need to do things the way that feel right for me, that make me strongest where I need to be. My country is unspeakably important to me, too, and I feel like I can make a difference, albeit a small one, from the space that I am in now, if I'm given the green light.

[Mizmoon]

7. Wait to marry

I can imagine your girlfriend won't like that but it's true. You must stay single for now and don't let her stop you from doing what you want to do.

One day when the time is right you will find that you naturally want to settle in and that security is better than excitement. Getting to that place is, for most people, part of both living to the fullest and living a long life.

Peace

[jandrok]

2. A lot of those folks would have been more effective....

...had they lived. All of the folks that you have listed died before their time, IMO. They each had more to give.

Living life to the fullest doesn't mean driving yourself to an early grave.

Do the best with the time that you have and don't worry about it.

[Guaranteed]

5. I understand.

All of them were just getting started. They were on the exponential UPTICK.

But would it have been the same for them if they hadn't done things the way they did?

On edit: And would we have dreamed of what they could have done? (and things that never were.....why not?)

[jandrok]

12. Maybe, maybe not. It's all colored by the fact that.....

...they died when they did, under the circumstances that they did. They are forever frozen in time, icons to the eras in which they lived.

What I'm saying is this:

Life isn't something that can be measured in some static, arbitrary way. Each life has value, no matter the length. A baby may live for only a few hours, but still have a profound effect on the world. All of us have the potential to make a difference, but it all depends on how we choose to do so.

It's not necessarily better to burn out than to fade away. You'll die some day no matter what. Do the best you can with the time you have.

[Redstone]

3. I agree with archy:

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

archy

-- Don Marquis
---------------------------------

Redstone

[Guaranteed]

6. That's basically it.

Do you have an opinion on it?

Although I think I'd be exaggerating to put it in such a way as if I had a real deathwish.

I do want life to mean something, though. I'm not playing around.

[Guaranteed]

9. One other point-

I'm not sure it's about happiness. It's never been something that I've sought after.

But, whatever it is that moth is shooting for, can they get half of that for twice the longevity?

I think the trade-off is much worse than that, X/longevity-wise.

From what I've seen, people pay an awful lot of longevity for that X.

But what else matters, other than X? ESPECIALLY in these times...and that's my primary concern.

On edit: Again, on the "happiness": All those I've mentioned, they were much more than just "happy" (if they were that at all). I think they must have been more "satisfied"...which, SO VERY FUCKING ODDLY, meant MORE than being "happy." Meaning more like they were doing just what they needed to do.

[caty]

8. Living life to the fullest

with living a long life a very close 2nd.

http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm

[AlienGirl]

10. Living it to the fullest...

I want my life to be meaningful, fun, and extraordinary. A hundred years of boredom just doesn't appeal...I bought the "E" ticket, and I want to enjoy the ride!

Tucker

[elshiva]

11. Live life to the fullest because my brother told me I will die at 42.

[RevCheesehead]

14. With all due respect,

your brother doesn't know shit. :hi:

[Guaranteed]

16. Well, she could die at 95,

or she could die tomorrow.

[RevCheesehead]

17. That's kind of my point, isn't it?

[elshiva]

18. Hiya there, but by brother knows a lot about this type of thing.

He is studying to become a professor of philosophy. Also, the way my brother knows things about me is just uncanny...

[Deja Q]

13. Everyone has their time. If you don't live it to its fullest then you are

missing out royally.

I've only a month or two to make up for YEARS I had no idea about.

[Guaranteed]

15. Are you OK?

And, respectfully, were you playing it conservative to begin with?

[Deja Q]

22. I am merely accepting reality, but I am ok...

Seeing the counselor tomorrow. All will be fine. Well, as far as things can get anyway given my circumstances. :D

As for playing it conservative... Oh, my numbers are spot-on. Maybe more than two, but it's hard to tell. But there is a medical issue at hand... literally too, oddly enough... it's funny, 8 years ago, I felt immortal...

[swag]

19. I try to balance reward with risk,

trying to maximize both quality and quantity. If you're not around any more, you can't enjoy high quality experiences. Granted, many risks must be taken, but if one plots one's activities along the efficient frontier plotlines, given one's risk tolerance, one might maximize one's potential quality/quantity relationship during the course of one's life.

Of course this is all safely half-joking.

[tarkus]

20. I have always been all about the long life, myself. NM

[hippywife]

21. Interesting that you should ask this tonight.

I was watching Sweet Honey In The Rock on American Masters tonight. Bernice Johnson Reagon was doing an intro to their song Ballad of Harry T. Moore, written by Langston Hughes. She talked about how he and his wife worked in the 30's and 40's setting up NAACP chapters throughout Florida and registering black voters. Florida at that time ended up with more black voters than the entire south put together. She said they were so good at what they did, they had to kill them. One night, a group of bigots placed dynamite under their home on Christmas night 1951 and killed them.

Bernice said we're all trying to spend as much time this side of death as we possibly can but we're all gonna get there anyway. Might as well make your life count for something, and go out making a difference.

What she said made a big impression on me tonight. I was kind of getting burned out on the fight and had already begun taking myself out of the peace movement for a little rest. Her life and accomplishments are a wonderful example. She's one amazing woman to have kept this group alive for thirty years singing for justice after having sewn the music into the civil rights movement. I think I can borrow from her strength and continue.

It seems that I hear Harry Moore.
From the earth his voice cries,
No bomb can kill the dreams I hold--
For freedom never dies!

I will not stop! I will not stop--
For freedom never dies!
I will not stop! I will not stop!
Freedom never dies!

So should you see our Harry Moore
Walking on a Christmas night,
Don't run and hide, you killers,
He has no dynamite.

In his heart is only love
For all the human race,
And all he wants is for every man
To have his rightful place.

And this he says, our Harry Moore,
As from the grave he cries:
No bomb can kill the dreams I hold
For freedom never dies!

Freedom never dies, I say!
Freedom never dies!

[Guaranteed]

23. Kick.

And we're still fighting.