How do you want to die?

[drbill]

Geez, Trace... I thought I was immortal. I don't give much thought to dying (other than to keep my things "in order" for my son and family). I watched Dad die a slow death in a nursing home after a stroke rendered him physically limited by mentally still quite alert. On the other hand my grandfather lived to be an active 95 and died a relatively quick death.

In my youth I thought I'd die from one of three things... an airplane crash (had two near misses in one day and stopped flying for two decades), a great white shark attack (despite 40 years of diving on their turf, they barely take notice of me) or a lightning strike (it came close twice).

Now I think I'll just retire (from being a divebum?) and move to some beautiful tropical area where I can spend the rest of my life diving in warm water surrounded by beautiful women (one of whom may give me a happy heart attack).

 

[j yaeger]

...i wanna die the same way i was born....
bare a$$ naked...and coming out of a woman!
just a thought...
yaeg

 

[BioLogic]

I want to wait until I'm done living, not go before I'm done because I was stupid. That's my motivation for safety in diving.

I don't worry about how, beyond trying to take care of myself to avoid degenerative diseases. Life will tell me how when it's ready.

 

[EastEndDiver]

I prefer to think of the way I want to live not the way I want to die.Death will come eventually and I doubt I will have any choice in the matter.

 

[Meredith78]

I don't see how wanting to dive safely is conforming to a society that wants us to die in a nursing home (not exactly what you said I know, but that was the gist I got). BioLogic is right. I want to live as long as I can to have as much fun as I can, not die in the middle of what was supposed to be a good day because I did something stupid and careless. I mean, obviously we all have to go sometime and we'd rather go quickly and painlessly, but dying while on vacation or doing a recreational activity is not what I have in mind.

If I have to answer the question, though, I'd like to die when all my loved ones are happy and taken care of, and I have done most of the things I wanted to do in my life, and while watching something great on TV in a room full of loved ones, after Thanksgiving dinner.

 

[Diver0001]

if we could have the final freedom to choose where and how we die, what would you choose?

I don't want to choose. I want death to sneak up on me and take me out in a flash when I'm old but not so old that all I can do is wait to die.

The worst possible thing I can imagine is dying of a long illness like cancer or worse yet from something like Alzheimer's. I've already told my wife if my mind goes that I want her to help me escape that.

R..

 

[dmoore19]

How do I want to die? One of 2 ways,

1 Never see it coming, it happens quick an it's over with.
2 If it can't be 1, then being mentally aware enough to know when it's time and pull the plug myself!

 

[BKP]

I want to find out about it after the fact...

 

[Diver0001]

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[TSandM]

As a medical professional, I'm exquisitely aware that there are worse things than dying. And as someone who had two parents who developed dementia, I have a personal and not so secret fear. I do not want to end as my father did, with ten years of custodial care that ended with him peeing in the corners of his room and slugging the staff. If my gentle, reserved father could have known that that was where he would go, he would have done something to shorten the process very early on . . . as I intend to.

But to get back to what I see as the intent of the original post: I enjoy the freedom to engage in what some people would see as ridiculously dangerous pastimes, like jumping horses and cave diving. I don't think very much about dying doing those things, although I do take what I see as reasonable precautions. I do, however, ride horses without a helmet, which is a practice I can't really defend. I do it with horses I know well, and in controlled environments -- and I wear a helmet on trails, or with young horses. But I like my ability to decide for MYSELF what risks I'm willing to take.

On the other hand, I support mandatory helmet laws for motorcycles. Nobody said I had to be consistent.