Ready to Die....at 64.....

[Chris Parks]

I am not a psychologist but it seems that someone who is throwing in the towel is undergoing some mental stress and is in need of a good friend or some help.

It is his life and no one else's, leave him alone and let him get on with it. Why has everyone got to decide for him what he wants?

[Larry Frank]

I am not trying to suggest what he should or shouldn't do. There are times when people are depressed that they are not capable of knowing what is right. My comment is meant to suggest that it might be good to make certain he is capable at this time of making such a decision.

[Tim Janssen]

Thank you!

Tim

[Kent A Bathurst]

I am not trying to suggest what he should or shouldn't do. There are times when people are depressed that they are not capable of knowing what is right. My comment is meant to suggest that it might be good to make certain he is capable at this time of making such a decision.

Bravo, Larry.

[Mel Fulks]

Maybe the home has a lot of lonely women and he wants to be popular and in demand for a long time . Then die.

[Rich Riddle]

Maybe the home has a lot of lonely women and he wants to be popular and in demand for a long time . Then die.

Now that you mention it, most homes seem to have more women than men, many more. Doesn't say much for us men and longevity. Not sure being surrounded by elderly women is a positive thing.

[Bert Kemp]

Why would any body jump out of a perfectly good plane. Yes I'd say he needs committing More power to him.Just for the record for those that don't ride motorcycles, 600 miles a day is a lot on a bike, I know I do it a lot and your really beat at the end of a day of riding.

Some recommended telling he man to see a licensed mental health provider; I'm a licensed psychologist. He didn't seem mentally ill but rather-of-fact preparing for death. Didn't get the "I'm dying" vibe from him at all. He had a very simple mind to say the least (in what we call he borderline cognitive functioning area). In short he sounded like a guy who just gave up, was throwing in the towel. Dad who turns 85 this year rides his motorcycle 600 miles a shot at least five times a year. Then he jumps out of airplanes (want to commit him), roller blades, boats, jogs, and in the winter uses a rowing machine. It amazes me the different outlooks folks have in life.

[Moses Yoder]

I think there should be a balance between having tons of junk that your kids will have to get rid of and continuing on with life in the golden age. We had to clean up every last bit of my dad's stuff. THe attic probably had not been entered in twenty years. In a way it was kind of fun but in another way two of my sisters who had free time spent months getting ready for a kid's sale and then garage sale, I myself spent 3 or 4 days on it. Just one example, they owed a bunch of money on a home equity loan and were always scratching for money. Cleaning up the mess, we found 100 pounds of lead he had purchased to make fishing weights; we sold the lead for 49 cents per pound.

[Wade Lippman]

Maybe he is on to something. I sneezed last night and strained a muscle in my side. It felt like I took a solid punch. And I am only 61. What new horrors are there at 64?

And jumping out a perfectly good airplane is an interesting experience.
My first jump was horrifying. The dozen people I went with said the same thing. Not one of us counted to 3 and looked up as instructed.
The second was fascinating; I wasn't scared and got to observe everything.
The third was boring; exactly like the second, and it seemed like it took forever to get to the ground.
Gave it up at that point because I had to do 9 more like that before moving onto something more advanced and it just took too much time and money.

[David Ragan]

This is an interesting thread with the fellow "ready to die".

Certainly, selling his tools is a major cause for concern.......but that is all we know about him.

Since this is an off-topic forum I can ramble on....I will say that I have always had a very circumspect view of Life, even as a little kid.

A friend of mine is one of those geniuses from India...I have had to pry it (the below) out of him

Other cultures are very interesting indeed. To think that our "Western-Anglo" view is the way things are could be seen as arrogant.

I am going to get into trouble here, I'm sure...I was raised Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, and 30 years ago, was appalled once when I went into a Unitarian church the morning after a dinner and saw bottles of alcohol around. The entire group was headed straight to Hades, I was sure.

Anyway, my limited understanding of the Indian (subcontinent) view on the ultimate reality of Nature/Spirituality/"religion", etc is the only cultural viewpoint that actually had figured out centuries ago all the particles that Modern Physics has now confirmed. (Stay tuned for more news from CERN-they confirm all this-is my understanding) I mean all the little bitty neutrinos, Higgs Boson, etc. All of it is contained with the ancient Indian writings. Hmmmm.

I cannot articulate the above any more than the above. Even the people who write the Physics books don't really understand it.

Yes, I am digressing. But not really.

Tibetan monks have been criticized about their "obsession" with death.

They say in response that they recognize that we are eternal, and this is the dream. To recognize that all this is temporary allows one to better appreciate it.

I realize that I am in the minority here.

(Read the part in John 3 when Christ talks to Nicodemus about the nature of Reality, right before 3:16. Very cool. Christ could walk up to any chalkboard @ Princeton, MIT, etc and write out all the math that reconciles Newtonian physics and Quantum Mechanics. What Einstein spent the last 30 years trying to do.)

In regards to the fellow mentioned initially, yes, he may be depressed. There are a lot of really good meds for that.

Life is all about Service. Muhammed Ali said that Service the rent you pay for being on the planet.

I am personally not depressed, but have had a variety of experiences to change my viewpoint on a lot of things.

That said, see if your friend might be depressed.

[Dan Hintz]

Christ could walk up to any chalkboard @ Princeton, MIT, etc and write out all the math that reconciles Newtonian physics and Quantum Mechanics. What Einstein spent the last 30 years trying to do.)

Congratulations. You just solved millennia of scientific questions by saying "Christ can do it". <facepalm>

[Jim Andrew]

Seems to me reconciling that you will not live on this earth forever is a good thing, so you don't have to reconcile so much if you do get something terminal. But I'm in no hurry to give it up. When my Dad got cancer it was hard for him. And I sure don't want to go through that. Some of my ancestors just had a heart attack in their mid 80's and fell back in their chairs. Thank you Lord if you will give me that way out.