Are We So Afraid To Die

a reply to: nugget1

Hmm, I think I did know that at some point. Well, then mamma had some babies around me somewhere in any case, and the family that had one in their yard claim it was a rattler. I guess their dog found it and was barking up a storm, and when they went out to investigate, they heard it and then found where it was.

There's a very large construction and development project going on right outside my subdivision and over the past year, they have cleared a lot of woodland out. On all the other side of it are highways and businesses, so it makes sense that any displaced wildlife would find its way back into our neighborhood. One guy around the corner from me claimed to have had a bobcat in his front yard. We're located on the edge of a city, border of the next county and there's a whole lot of nothing between us and the next town to the north. We're the last refuge for all the poor displaced critters.

As to the whole "You haven't lived until you almost died" comments--well, I had a near-drowning incident when I was young...so I do have some fear of swimming after that and I don't feel like that incident made me feel more alive after, either. It just made me scared of water for most of my childhood. I'm not really all that scared to die or of death, but I do have 5 children and am more scared of them losing me than anything else.

I guess, yes, I do think you should overcome unfounded fears and live life to its fullest, but people like me who like to stay grounded and have no interest in jumping from planes (or whatever), I think that's fine too. For me, really living would be being able to travel the world. One day I'll get to do that and I'm patient.

a reply to: semperfortis

Isn’t it exciting?

Right up until Sasquatch decides to get *ahem* fresh...!!

Live well and earn a good death.

I would rather die sooner than hang around with one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock.

What brought this thread on I wonder.

What is it Semp, Millenials not getting out enough?

Heres one for all the kids in "Tejas"
We have Mountains, Deserts, Forests, Lakes and flatlands alike. Ive been through most of it.
Our neighbors, Louisiana and New Mexico and even Old Mexico have a ton of things you can get into. Ive been to all three. Dont forget Arkansas and Oklahoma.

As for that little old cloud in WYO, ANYONE who lives in Tornado alley even out my way has seen them, most likely their whole lives. That includes animals in these areas cottonmouths and various rattlers.

a reply to: semperfortis

I have no fear of death, as after death comes true life. Realizing this, I am always read to fight the system to improve life for others. I fear no snake bite.

a reply to: semperfortis

My direct TV remote don't work if I get too far from the couch or I would go out there.

Seriously, I am out in the woods on average 25 hours a week just hiking around exploring.

a reply to: semperfortis

KEEP ON LIVING MY MAN

Live as well as you can, make compassion and happiness among your top priorities in life, and embrace the fact that you will die.

For me, it's easy. I know when I'm going to die, and I know what is on the other side.

I can only tell you, I can't show you or make you believe.. NO one should ever be so afraid of death.

Life is short, extremely so, even if you exceed average expectancy. So learn to LIVE before you die. Death can come at any moment. You can't prep for that.

This is the world we know. This is the one we trust. We've fought hard for what we have and enjoyed it. So when a youngin' comes out and makes a show of disapproval, you can understand our response. We defend our home. This is what we're. All the bad is outweighed by the good. We love this world; this life. The youngins' might try to remove the bad and keep the good, but we figure they'll quickly find you can't hold onto the good without knowing the bad.

I'm one of the youngins'. Unlike you, I don't think the good outweighs the bad. So, have at me. Show your contempt, or just ignore me.

Every pretty girl I see is accompanied by an ugly girl. Every beautiful scene has superimposed on it a gruesome one. Every place of peace I think of a place of unrest. In every star I see regions of dark all around. Every healthy and vibrant person is shadowed by a crippled and mourning figure. For every beacon of love there's a bastion of hate. This is my life in this world. I mostly see conflict here. It's as though all good is paid for in earnest by an token of evil.

I don't believe in a heaven or a better place after death. So one is left with a conundrum. Stay here and get what you can? Or leave and the only reward is you end your awareness of good and bad? No matter how bad this world might be, is it still better than nothingness? It all depends on how you respond to things, I guess.

I am selfish. I don't want pain. I don't like bad places or disarray. I realize to earn a good life means we must fight through the bad. Some of us will thrive on the challenge. It's overcoming which gives us a sense of accomplishemtn. I just feel like my fighting spirit is so much weaker than normal. I am somehow not made for this world, although I share many of the traits common here.

At some point a person has to decide. To be. To always be between is to not be. Inaction is to have no dignity or being.

I know some people have a tougher life than me. Appealing to my sense of shame is an easy one. However, there's also another side of me which doesn't run on emotion. I look at the way of the universe. I see numbers, not feelings. How to appeal to that part of me?

Just tired of the tug of war between everything, the yin and yang, selfishness and unselfishness, beauty and ulginess, sin and salvation. The constant struggle to attain and overcome repeated endlessly. Death, it would appear, is the only way out of it.

I know this is unattractive. I didn't come to this thread to just blend in. I came to state my thoughts as they stream out.