I love racing ...

"Brian, The Life of" (familycar)
01/10/2014 at 12:40 • Filed to: None

... but I'd never want to die doing it. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is bullshit. I want to live doing what I love and die as a contented, used-up and worn-out old man, nursing home or not. To pretend otherwise is the insincere boasting of the young.

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DISCUSSION (47)

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:41

True. However I'm pretty sure he knew the risks he was taking.

Brian, The Life of > Goshen, formerly Darkcode
01/10/2014 at 12:43

Of course he did; we all do. Thats not the point I was making, though.

505Turbeaux > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:43

the only way I will take "dying doing what I loved" is catching a heart attack post orgasm up in some hot brunette

Bad Idea Hat > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:45

I'm glad the troll I was arguing with got our exchange dropped off of the article page.

Brian, The Life of > 505Turbeaux
01/10/2014 at 12:45

Now this is a better, more honest statement.

Isn't that how Errol Flynn went? In bed with an 18 year-old when he was an old fart?

HammerheadFistpunch > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:45

I hate the "he died doing what he loved". Like it was somehow his goal, or it makes it acceptable because of the activity. For real adventure reward there is real risk and to feel alive sometimes means to court death but a tragic death is a tragic death. Most of the time you beat the odds, sometimes the odds beat you and that's all there is to it.

Brian, The Life of > HammerheadFistpunch
01/10/2014 at 12:46

Exactly!

Aaron James > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:46

I agree, I don't want to die doing what I love, I want to live a long and full life. It's really used to make the survivors feel better about the loss of their loved one.

505Turbeaux > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:47

hmm never heard that one!

KB Garage > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:48

Allow me to clarify: My addition to the nursing home comment was simply to illustrate I would rather not go out that way. Not to indicate I want to go out in some giant ball of fire while performing a barrel roll on a dirt bike jumping across the Grand Canyon, chugging a red bull and not wearing any pants while people cheer me on. I'd rather be at home in my own bed.

Brian, The Life of > 505Turbeaux
01/10/2014 at 12:48

Might just be urban legend ... I'm not going to research it though because I really want it to be true :D

For Sweden > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:49

Only the unfortunate die young.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:51

Agreed, but one would be foolish not to consider the risks of getting involved in a race of this or any other kind. If I were a professional racer, I'd very much rather survive my career and live to a ripe old age than pass away on the course of it, but I'd also rather die racing than not race at all. The possibility that something will go very wrong will always be present, unless you give up racing altogether...

505Turbeaux > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:52

me too. Dying in like flynn

oldirtybootz > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:52

I would rather die racing or driving if the fault is my own rather than be killed by a drunk driver, crazed gunman, burglar, cancer, etc. At least I'd be doing something I enjoyed rather than just having my life taken from me. Obviously I'd rather not die, but the thought of dying while sitting at a stop light or crossing an intersection terrifies me, whereas if I'm speeding along a road, enjoying the drive when I wrap it around a tree and die at least I was having fun.

Justin Young > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:53

Kinja'd!!!

"The close you are to death, the more alive you feel." - James Hunt

Brian, The Life of > For Sweden
01/10/2014 at 12:53

I've only ever seen extreme sadness when someone dies "before their time."

Funerals for the old, on the other hand, truly are celebrations of the Dearly Departed's life. They can be tremendously uplifting. I don't want tears at mine, just lots and lots of great stories :)

Brian, The Life of > oldirtybootz
01/10/2014 at 12:55

Fair enough, but now we're only talking about "ways of dying young" instead of dying young vs. old.

oldirtybootz > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:57

Well I'd rather die old. I'm not one of those youngsters who would rather die young partying.

Casper > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:57

I would rather die doing something I enjoyed than die of wasting away from cancer or with dementia in a nursing home. Everyone will die, and most people have essentially stopped living long before they die... they are just waiting for the end. I want to die at the optimum point and virtually instantly. Somewhere before I become infirm and have to stop doing the things I enjoy, but somewhere after I have tried everything I want to try.... but if I die in the middle of doing something I enjoy, it's the next best thing.

Brian, The Life of > Justin Young
01/10/2014 at 12:57

That's true because of the biomechanics that put you in that hyper-aware state.

I'm quite sure James Hunt did not want to die at 45.

interrogator-chaplain > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 12:58

My dad works for an old age home and I've had two grandparents in an old age home. I'd rather die doing something I love. Quick, sudden and at the height of joy.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > oldirtybootz
01/10/2014 at 13:00

Cancer is the worst... Specially when you're just shit out of luck and ends up with it. There are two cancer patients in our unit, one of them is 25 years old and we just passed the news of an orange sized tumor attached to the colon. Prognostics isn't that grim, but I have the feeling once the rest of the exams are in, it will be.

The other patient is 60 and already has secondary and tertiary masses scattered throughout the abdomen, not looking good at all...

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:00

"...the insincere boasting of the young."

Your own turn of phrase? It captures a lot of truth in few words.

Brian, The Life of > Casper
01/10/2014 at 13:02

Really? Because when I see the extreme joy my kids bring to their grandparents and the way they enjoy their "Golden Years," I'm thinking there's more to being old than simply waiting to die. It's a stage of life, man. You get out of it what you let yourself take.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:03

Or of cancer

Brian, The Life of > interrogator-chaplain
01/10/2014 at 13:04

Palente has at least 30 more years before the "home" would be calling.

You really think he would have chosen the outcome he had?

oldirtybootz > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
01/10/2014 at 13:04

These are the kinds of things I don't like to think about. Life is far to fragile.

Brian, The Life of > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
01/10/2014 at 13:05

Yup, just occurred to me as I was typing that. Seemed right.

Brian, The Life of > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
01/10/2014 at 13:05

Truth.

leicester > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:05

I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather...

Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car...

Brian, The Life of > leicester
01/10/2014 at 13:06

That one never gets old.

So to speak.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > oldirtybootz
01/10/2014 at 13:08

Yeah, it's hard not to get a chill down your spine when you come across that kind of stuff.

Casper > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:10

To each there own. Some people have nothing in their lives other than living vicariously through their children, but that can have it's own major disappointments. At the point where my greatest achievement is simply to having completed a biological cycle everything on earth does, I personally would start to seriously feel like I shorted myself. Of course my perspective maybe because I have seen so many people live to be ages where they are able to do nothing but be sick and miserable. Your parents probably just haven't reached the age to where they don't remember your name or have to have round the clock care. That is the phase I never want to reach.

At the point someone has to wheel me around and explain my wife has been dead for 15 years and the woman I'm talking to next to me is just a nurse, I really hope someone just puts me out of my misery. I don't consider that life, I consider it living.

interrogator-chaplain > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:11

No, I doubt it, nor would I seek it out myself. But having seen what passes for "Life" inside an old age home, there are better ways to die.

jariten1781 > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:16

My grandfather died after many years of abject misery. He randomly had a seizure at ~52 and when he checked into the hospital it turned out that he also had hepatitis C and pancreatic cancer. As his health problems began he voluntarily gave up many of the things that he had loved and had defined his life (flying, cigarettes, big ass steaks, sugars, etc.) Things just kept getting worse even though he was doing everything 'right'. It was 12 years from the first visit until he finally went.

He gave up the desire to live long before he passed. He attempted suicide multiple times while he was in hospice care. The very last thing he ever said to me was 'never let them take away the things you love'.

So there is something to say about dying while you're still happy and doing the things you enjoy. I think a long fulfilling life is what I should hope for, but I'd rather go out abruptly while content than spend a decade in pain and misery waiting to finally go.

Brian, The Life of > Casper
01/10/2014 at 13:20

My four teenage kids are shaping up to be much better people than me. That was my goal the moment they were born, far and away above anything else that was/is on my plate to accomplish.

Regardless of the education, material success, or how much "living on the edge" I have achieved for myself in life, the best thing I can do for Humanity is to deliver on my #1 goal. At this stage, I am pretty confident that I will be leaving the world in a better place than I found it because of that.

My mom is 83 (my dad died at 71) and my in-laws are 90 and 80. They have their aches and pains (but so do I at 49), they can't do absolutely everything for themselves anymore, but they are still fulfilled and happy. And old.

Sounds SO MUCH better than dying at 50,

Brian, The Life of > jariten1781
01/10/2014 at 13:22

Again, I was referring to my preference of dying as an old man to dying as a healthy young one. There are exceptions to everything. Sorry your gramps went the way he did.

Casper > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:24

You seemed to overlook a fundamental aspect: you don't choose when you die. I would rather die the day after I have done everything I want to do in life than 20 years after I have nothing left to look forward to. There is no arbitrary age that is magically right, so I just live assuming if I die tomorrow I will still be content.

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:30

I can confirm: it is right.

Brian, The Life of > Casper
01/10/2014 at 13:30

And you're ignoring my original point: Given the choice of dying young "doing what you love"vs. dying as an old in a nursing home, only an insincere fool would choose the former. I never said anything about being old and wracked with torturous pain from cancer or some other malady. My ENTIRE point was that bullshit statements like "dying doing what he loved" are empty and meaningless while dying in a nursing home is not always such.

Casper > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 13:35

You seem strangely motivated to try to convince people a philosophy you simply disagree without is incorrect. No one is tell you to go kill yourself while doing something you enjoy. What they are simply saying that since you have no way of controlling when you die so dying while doing something you enjoy is far better than dying while doing nothing, something you dislike, or something monotonous.

Is dying doing something you love worse than dying while passing a massive shit in and being found by your grand children? This isn't a game of optimizing your death, it's about understanding that you can't choose the optimum time to die and acknowledging there are worse.

Brian, The Life of > Casper
01/10/2014 at 13:48

Ok, I get it. You're simply ignoring my point in order to argue one I was not making.

I'm done.

Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 14:33

He died while doing something he loved. That does not mean it was his goal to die while while doing something he loved. His goal was to do something he loved. Dying at it was not an active pursuit.

So I think you may read the expression a bit wrong.

TwoFortified > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 15:17

Hey, if, one day, I cross the line and see 9.99 up there, and my heart literally bursts with pride, at least I'll die with a smile on.

Bongo > Brian, The Life of
01/10/2014 at 17:13

"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." — Jack Handey

puddler > Brian, The Life of
01/12/2014 at 01:22

everyone has their line. most people can find it the hard way, but racing isn't as much fun once you get too far from that line...but it would be majorly unfortunate to die from some sort of mechanical failure...stepping across that line you've gotta kinda earn your death...never lift. haha