Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?

Thanks for ruining my day!

Well…. yeah! I also realize I too will die one day. What’s your point? Just remember, the second we are born, we begin to die. It’s what you do in the meantime that makes all the difference.

I think about it often. Then I wonder if it’ll be me that dies before everyone I know or the other way around. No matter which way I look at it, I hate thinking about it. But it definitely makes me want to make every day worth something. I’m always hoping that the people I love know that I love them.

Umm.. yes. Death is just another part of life. I’ll be sad, but it happens to everyone. I think I’ll survive.

Are those The Flaming Lips lyrics?

@johnpowell: yes
Do You Realize – that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize – we’re floating in space -
Do You Realize – that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize – that everyone you know someday will die

The human body produces hormones which keep you from thinking about death. These hormones are circumvented under the influence of some drugs. That’s why you get paranoid when you are high. Not really an answer but something to think about.

I work in a field that reminds me of mortality every day so am very aware of the fact that we are all going to die, and keeping that knowledge close helps me remember what’s important to me.

still friggin depressing. As if a whole Monday at work isn’t enough?

NOBODY TOLD ME THIS?! AWW WHAT THE

@johnpowell- good call, no wonder why you have almost 12000 lurve!

Darn it…I supposed you have something to tell me about the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny too…now I have a really bad case of the Moondays…

I was just thinking about this idea this morning – It gave me the shivers.

Lots of them already have.

Yep. That’s life.

Yep. Everyone of ‘em is going to die. Hopefully whatever comes next will make this reality seem like hell.

I’ve been thinking about this reality much more in recent years, getting up there myself and still processing my mother’s death last spring. In fact, I am letting myself think about it often and get used to the idea as an imaginable reality. It makes the prospect seem easier and more natural, if not altogether comfortable, to let the thoughts come instead of banishing them.

More than death, I worry about living on in some impaired and diminished condition. That really frightens me much more than just passing on.

I’ll tell you a secret. I worried about that a lot—lingering helplessly long past my time—right up until the moment that this dawned on me: if I am taking life-sustaining meds, I have in my hands the option to move on anytime I need to, as long as I still have the wit and the means to exercise the power of choice. That thought made me smile a big smile and put my mind at ease in a way that no amount of cheery optimism could do.

@steve6, I never heard that. Citation?

Jeruba, I would have to look it up. There are hormones that preclude fear at the time of death also.

…omfgru4rl?

EDIT: It was only after this flippant remark that I read @Jeruba‘s account. That’s some scary shit, if you don’t mind my saying.

The Knowledge of Good and Evil!

My father was killed when I was I was ten. And my grandma died when I was six or seven from pancreatic cancer. And a lot of friends since then.

I am just numb to death now.

Every day that goes by is a day closer to Death Day. Nothing much one can do about it. I think it will make your life way more miserable if you think about it. I expect it to come at any time (even tho I’m young), and I feel prepared for it—because, honestly, I can’t do anything when it does come lol4rl. I’m hoping it won’t come for a while though; I have somethings I’d like to do first.

When death takes me down and I breath here no more
My anthem will sound on that eternal shore
When I join with the angels in heaven on high
Singing “Praise the Lord, I saw the light”

My personal take on death.

do you realize that billions of people you don’t know someday will start to live?

@shadling21, what was scary, my comments? Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have had those thoughts at your age. It would be pretty unusual for someone to have the same views of life and death over a span of decades of life and experience. I think my view is fairly reasonable for where I am now, and it certainly is more comfortable than fear. It may also not be my final thought on the subject.

We are stardust. Yay!

When Eric Idle sings The Universe Song from The Meaning of Life about how unlikely our births are, my tiny little mind is blown and I have to listen to The Penis Song.

Honestly, though, I feel lucky to have consciousness for the few years I’ll have it; I don’t remember anything from before I was 2, do you? I figure that’s what it’ll be like when I’m gone and it makes me less anxious.

I have had a number of close family and friends die; some by choice, some by illness, some by freak accidents. Words don’t work to express the complicated and disemboweling feelings. They do mute somewhat, over time.

The older you get, the more friends and family you have lost or will lose pretty darn soon. It is part of the cycle of life, no one gets off alive, make the most of it. I read somewhere that when you are older you regret more the things you didn’t do compared to to the things you did do (I’m paraphrasing).

Where is seVen, I agree with nearly all of his opinions.

flaming lips…

I went from having no one in my family die, to having 8 people die in 3 years. :-( I keep moving up the ladder of adulthood.

Yeah… That’s life, we don’t know when and where… So, be ready…

No. I hadn’t realized that. Next you’ll be telling me that the Pope is catholic.

I want you to know that I laughed when I saw this question. I hope that was your intent with the Flaming Lips lyric. It actually brightened my day a bit, in spite of the seemingly depressing topic.

Um, yeah. Duh.

C’est la vie.

Fortunately, when I’m dead, I won’t know that I’m dead. The worst part is when you know it’s imminent, unless, of course, you’ve made peace with it. I do hope to make peace with it before hand. I’d hate to die in fear. However, since I have no religion, and I’m not any kind of enlightened person, my suspicion is that it’ll be bad, so I’m hoping it’ll happen unexpectedly, preferably in my sleep.

It is my wish and hope to die laughing.

When I really get on a rip and laugh hard enough to hurt myself, I could blow a gasket. Since this happens fairly frequently (and not always conveniently), the possibility does not seem that remote.

If I may please, I’d like to take this question in the direction all Fluther questions eventually go: grammar.

I have always bristled at this lyric. (I assume, tennesseejac that you are, indeed quoting the Lips, and so, I absolve you of bad grammar.) Am I wrong in reading that people I don’t know now, but will someday know, will die? As if my knowing them becomes the cause of their demise?
Wouldn’t it be more correct to say…will die someday?

Ugh, with my father just passing away, I realize this, all too much.

Even though his health was very poor, we knew it was coming – but we didn’t expect a stroke, when it happens, it is such a damn shock. My husband said I said, “Dad, not yet!” I don’t remember saying that, I wanted so much for him to go on his own terms.

My parents didn’t hide the reality of life and death from us, even as children. I have friends that their parents never really approached the subject. Their fish might die and the mom would search to replace it – I did that once, because my daughter’s fish died, within hours of bringing them home, by the 4th fish, she asked why it had a black spot on it. I told her the truth, she was curious, but started to understand.

With my father’s passing, I was faced with the horrible duty of telling my children – one is 14, very close to 15 and the other is 5. Telling a 5yr old that his papa died – not as easy as telling him the pill bug he loved in his bug farm, died. Everyday, there is a new question. It’s hard enough for me to swallow the reality of the situation, but now I have him asking questions, daily. However, I would rather answer, than lie to him.

We do have faith – we have our religious beliefs, so that has thrown in another dimension.

But yes, I do realize it and hate it – because you just never really know when that day is coming. Just trust me on this, don’t take those loved ones and friends for granted, make sure they know your feelings.

What can we say, life is a 100% terminal disease. Would you have preferred it if you hadn’t been given life in the first place?

I am glad to say I have no fear of death or dying, and I don’t believe in Heaven and Hell so none of that to think about either. I look forward to experiencing, or not experiencing, nonexistence. After a hard long life, it’ll be nice to let it all go.

I FEEL SO MISERABLE AND ALONE

Why, Richard? Consider the sheer improbability of us even existing in the first place. Whenever I get a bit depressed I look back and read about human evolution and how we got to come here, and seeing how far we’ve come and how many difficulties our ancestors faced to get here, it makes my problems seem quite a bit less significant. I find it helps greatly in getting myself out of a rut.

Yes, but NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THIS :(

Get over it, Henry. =] (Kidding..)

Seriously though, death is something I think about a reasonable amount (but not obsessively).

Personally, I like the idea that we only have a certain amount of time on earth to accomplish what we can, which makes the people we meet and the relationships we have even more valuable.

I’d be bumming around doing nothing if I could live forever, instead of working my ass off like I am right now. There’s a lot I want to do, and I don’t have forever to do it.

If there’s an afterlife or something like it, great, but that’s not important until we reach that point (and ultimately not important anyway, because if it really is all over we won’t even know). I wanna use my time at least somewhat valuably.

Actually, this question hits close to home at the moment. Today, I received a memorial publication that people had written to honor a friend of mine who died at a young age, in a terrible accident, about 10 months ago. I find that as time goes on, the waves of grief are sometimes farther apart, but they can still be very sharp and painful. I try to live my life fully and to realize that he would not want the rest of us to walk around in a state of misery!