Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.

If you could choose how you die

124

Replies

  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    at 114 years old in my sleep ...peacefully
  • This content has been removed.
  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,326 Member
    Burning to death is my worst nightmare!

    Mine, as well. It may sound silly but I do NOT want to be cremated either...doesn't matter that I am not going to feel it.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    shaf238 wrote: »
    In my sleep.
    I am quite partial to drowning.
    That's my worst nightmare. Me drowning. Not you. I mean, not that I want you to drown. But, if it's between me and you. You all the way. But, you don't mind that. So, we cool.

    I almost drowned once. It was very unpleasant. Jumped off a small cliff into a deep lake when I was a teen without knowing what to expect. After swimming up for what felt like an eternity and not seeing the surface I panicked. I was rescued, unconscious. It was one of the scariest moments in my life. Next year I jumped again, but I knew what to expect, and swam patiently up without panicking even when the feeling of lack of breath set in, and I was fine. If you are in water it pays off to know what to expect and what to do.
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,508 Member
    I am quite partial to drowning.

    in what ?
  • elsie6hickman
    elsie6hickman Posts: 3,864 Member
    At 63, I have thought about this. I probably worry more about my husband, who is 71, more than I do myself. His father died of cancer at 72, but his mother lived to 86 and had advanced alzheimers. My mother died at 64, and passed during surgery, and I guess that is an easy trip out. My father is still kicking at 93 - his second wife died quite suddenly of blood clots in her lungs. As for me, I would like to make an easy transition - just go to bed one night and not wake up. (you can be sure it won't be because I was in a car accident and wasn't wearing my seat belt). It never fails to amaze me how many younger people here, die in accidents because they weren't wearing their seat belt.
  • allisonlane161
    allisonlane161 Posts: 269 Member
    Aside from being assumed into the heavens while still alive, I'll choose dying in my sleep at the ripe old age of 250.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    in my sleep after a long fulfilling, relatively healthy life
  • yukfoo
    yukfoo Posts: 871 Member
    edited September 2018
    Jumping off a bridge in France..People will say "He was in Sein".
  • TheRoadDog
    TheRoadDog Posts: 11,788 Member
    Don't really care. Just hope it doesn't put my family in a position that they have to spoon feed me and change my diapers.

    Hope it's something that will have people talking. "Did you hear what happened to Michael?" "Yep. Sounds just like him." Then they can put on my Urn "What the helI was that all about?"

    I told my wife to invite all my riding buddies over to raid my liquor cabinet and humidor. Have a good time on me.
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    Never ever answer this question out lound.
    One Thursday afternoon, my step father was sitting around with friends talking. A mutual friend had died recently.
    The subject turned to "how would like to die."
    My step father said he wanted to go in his sleep.
    Less than 12 hours later, at 1:30am he died in his sleep from cardiac arrest.
    Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    When thunderstorm rolls through, I ask my wife to jump in the hot tub with me. She's OK with the plan but insists we wear swim suits
  • evergreenlakegirl
    evergreenlakegirl Posts: 89 Member
    edited September 2018
    Some of your replies really had me laughing- I think most people don’t think about this subject because they don’t want to think about it - I believe because of the fear of the unknown and the finality of it and what you leave behind
    I do not want to die a slow death that is painful.... book my trip to Washington....
    A quick death would be fine for me although not by a violent murder
  • amandaeve
    amandaeve Posts: 723 Member
    Death in industrialized countries is a process, not a moment like it used to be. Given the amazing medical provisions and life support systems out there, the realistic question is not, "How do I want to die?" but, "How will they decide I'm dead?"
  • Unknown
    edited September 2018
    This content has been removed.
  • Via euthanasia but unfortunately I am not terminally ill {I've a severe & permanent disability}, so that'd require a law to pass that'll allow me to!
    I’m sorry you are dealing with a difficult situation-
    I don’t know of your condition, but I’m sending you hugs and hope you can find peace in your day ❤️

  • This content has been removed.
  • hikinggal11
    hikinggal11 Posts: 59 Member
    I hope I go while doing something I love.....running, hiking/backpacking, camping. Then my loved ones can be consoled knowing that I got to do the thing that I love one last time. Not eaten by a bear or a cougar though......man what a way to go! I would prefer a nice neat stroke, heart attack, falling off of a cliff, tree falling on me (this did happen to someone I knew), lightening, hypothermia, etc.
  • This content has been removed.
  • bootyrubsandtacos
    bootyrubsandtacos Posts: 775 Member
    I don’t really care. I just want it to be fast and quick. I don’t want to be aware that I’m dying.
  • landfish
    landfish Posts: 255 Member
    edited September 2018
    TL;DR: Nothing long and drawn out and not alone.

    Given my family history, I will probably die from an aneurysm of some sort. My dad had an aortic aneurysm and survived thanks to some quick thinking from my mom. My grandfather died from his. My mom died recently from a cerebral aneurysm. Her last few hours conscious didn't sound entirely pleasant, but it wasn't a long, drawn out painful death like her mother's death was. Also (and this is most important for me), she didn't die alone.
  • Negative_X
    Negative_X Posts: 296 Member
    Deviette wrote: »
    if you could chose of what you'd die of, what would it be?

    In the service of saving the lives of others.

  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    Of natural causes in my old age with my right mind, surrounded by my wife, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren with enough time to offer parting words of love and wisdom to each individually and to the family as a whole before slipping away peacefully at home.
  • SilverBack_200
    SilverBack_200 Posts: 12 Member
    edited October 2018
    I believe Tyrion Lannister summed it up quite nicely...
  • BeccaColliesBurton
    BeccaColliesBurton Posts: 79 Member
    Deviette wrote: »
    PaperDoll_ wrote: »
    I don't know what I'm likely to die of, but I do know I definitely do not want to go in my sleep. That thought has always terrified me. I actually want my death to be something painful. I want to be well aware of it at the moment. I always assumed I'd go in a car wreck, but hopefully not for a very long time.
    You know I never expected that sort of response. So often it's seen as somewhat comforting that a death was painless and while sleeping. It's a fascinating insight :smiley:

    Only when people die in their sleep, we assume it's peaceful, but we don't really know that. It's easier for us to believe that.
  • Littlerobystar
    Littlerobystar Posts: 14 Member
    MY dad died in February of liver cancer. He didi not have any physical pain. Probably, I'll end up the same way as we have genetic Fatty liver disease. Said so, I hope my death will be quiet and painless, maybe in my sleep.
  • MikeLearnsHowToEat
    MikeLearnsHowToEat Posts: 11 Member
    I’ll tell you how I don’t want to die and that’s by eating cake and ice cream until it kills me
  • Dogmudgeon
    Dogmudgeon Posts: 2 Member
    edited October 2018
    I wouldn't.

    Ever.

    "I'm not quite sure where the discussion is here so I'll pose a couple of questions:"

    "-What do you think of the above, what are your thoughts?"

    I am utterly terrified of dying. I've had six or seven close calls since I was 18 and my luck can't hold out forever. And, please, no religious stuff. It's not a spiritual terror, it's an existential one.

    "-So really what do you think you're likely to die of, based off your action?"

    I had a stroke 2 years ago. It was a small aphasic stroke and I recovered within a month. Hooray for me. But most strokes recur within two years. However, I am in excellent health, except for being fat. Good Health plus Fat is like walking a thin line, indeed.

    Other than that, I wish for medical technology to keep me alive as long as I can. Immortality may take a while.
  • fallingwave
    fallingwave Posts: 108 Member
    This question terrifies me. I know I can go at any time... we all can. I don't want it to be painful... If I could choose it would be in my sleep, but I would want to know it was coming... I want to expect that death is near so that I can prepare and gather with those close to me.
This discussion has been closed.