# How do you prefer to die? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116 "2010-12-14T14:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/41 "2010-12-14T23:06:56Z")
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/42 "2010-12-14T23:13:49Z")
Coincidentally I was just reading a [list](http://totallytop10.com/current-affairs/odd-news/top-10-worst-ways-to-die) of the ten worst ways to die. I’d like to avoid all of those. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/43 "2010-12-14T23:14:12Z")
105 years old, shot to death in bed by a jealous husband. Seriously, something fast. I’ve lost too many loved ones to lingering diseases. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/44 "2010-12-14T23:42:52Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > 105 years old, shot to death in bed by a jealous husband. > Seriously, something fast. I’ve lost too many loved ones to lingering diseases. On an ‘up stroke’. 😉 You took my answer but didn’t finish the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Add99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Add99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Add99)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/45 "2010-12-15T02:40:26Z")
Jump from a plane without a parachute into a volcano wearing a hand grenade helmet. I like having a back up plan. I honestly think this would be quite intense and maybe even fun. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/46 "2010-12-15T02:49:07Z")
1. Like many others I’d like to wake up dead one day 2. Strap dynamite and napalm to my body. Put on a long overcoat. Fill the pockets with more napalm, maybe soak it all in gasoline. Climb out on a building ledge in NYC about 5 floors up. Wait for a crowd to form and start shouting ‘Jump! Jump! Jump!’. Jump, then detonate the dynamite showering the crowd with flaming bits of me. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/47 "2010-12-15T03:23:22Z")
[quote=“chizzuk, post:34, topic:564116”] My best ways to die: 1. Massive brain hemorrhage Thanks. I’ll let you know. Father, Mother, both Grandfathers & at least one Grandmother went this way. Short of falling in front of a bus, so will I. Personally, I’m not thrilled by it. After the single most brilliant man I’ve ever known (and I’ve met as many as your neighborhood park has met red ants) had his brain 90% destroyed by one, it didn’t look like fun. With a tube duct taped through his mouth, his head swinging side to side uncontrollably and his eyes closed but streaming tears, I said my good-byes to him. It was the day before his executor found the balls to execute his Living Will and honor his last wishes. I’m glad I got to say goodbye, but I choose to believe he wasn’t there. And I’ll be Damned if I’ll sully my memories of him believing he was trapped in a screaming nightmarish Hell that he couldn’t escape from until he was released… just to appease ignorant and selfish family members who couldn’t ‘let him go’. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/48 "2010-12-15T08:07:17Z")
Painlessly, quietly, and not alone. I’m not confident on any of those coming true. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/49 "2010-12-15T13:09:17Z")
If things were like the movie [Groundhog Day,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)#Plot) you could really explore your options. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/50 "2010-12-16T21:28:36Z")
Already responded, but: Probably the best way to die would be (successfully) saving the life of another. Everybody dies - might as well go out doing something worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/51 "2010-12-17T01:21:38Z")
Top on the list would be going to sleep and just not waking up. I don’t want to be aware of my impending death because that would panic me deeply and emotionally (see: ego-death). If I HAVE to know I’m going to die, then dope me up so I forget it or am too distracted by the pretty colors to care. And so it won’t hurt. I find it’s best to be convinced of my own immortality. I’ll be right every day but the day I die. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/52 "2010-12-17T16:41:13Z")
The same way Elijah did. Yes, I know what happened to him. Barring that, something _ **memorable** _, in a headline-making, statue-dedicating way. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/53 "2010-12-17T16:51:00Z")
An overdose of morphine or heroin. You’d be feeling good for a few minutes, long enough to reflect fondly on memories of your life, and then you’d just fall asleep and perish. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/54 "2010-12-18T14:39:37Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > The same way Elijah did. Yes, I know what happened to him. > > Barring that, something _ **memorable** _, in a headline-making, statue-dedicating way. There’s still one more space shuttle launch. Two for the price of one, Christa. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/55 "2010-12-18T18:38:06Z")
Not at all. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/56 "2010-12-18T18:56:47Z")
Torture. Or, at least, when I die I want to _want to_ die. I want to wish for it and yearn for it. When I’m in terrible pain on my death bed, put me out of my misery. Or maybe when all my family and friends are long gone, and all the sentimental places I loved are paved into flying car landing lot, and not one tree is left standing that was alive when I was born, then I’ll be up for it. But if I’m not in any pain, still somewhat capable and cognizant, and my family is still alive and loves me… why the hell would I want to die _then_? ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/57 "2010-12-26T16:01:07Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > But if I’m not in any pain, still somewhat capable and cognizant, and my family is still alive and loves me… why the hell would I want to die _then_? you dont have a choice, you will die. i guess you prefer it to be a surprise. for me, i’d definitely like to go in my sleep, where i have no idea whats going on. seems too scary otherwise [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116.md?page=2)