I have had the flu since yesterday (I am not feeling so bad since late yesterday/early today ever since the tamiflu medicine has kicked in), and I saw on some other board that there was a dude who asked this question. He said something like, “If you had to give up 3 years of your life (let’s say live until 68 instead of 71) to never get the cold or flu in your life, would you do it?”
I was pretty surprised that a lot of people actually said “no”. I mean come on, three years isn’t *that *long. Hell, Iam willing to die ten years younger as a cost if it guarantees me reaching 6’0 by the time my growth plates close. But seriously, I would do it in a heartbeat. Quality is more important than quantity. I hate being sick (everyone does) and I hate being short (most people do) and I would happily give up 13 years of my life (from the end though, so if I was meant to die at 80, I would instead die at 67) to not ever get the cold or flu again or be short. But this is just my opinion.
What’s yours? Would you give up three years of your life to never get the cold or flu again in your life?
It’s hard to say without knowing when I was going to die. What if I was going to die in 3 years? What if I was going to die in 2 years, and now we have a possibly dangerous paradox?
No. Of course, I get sick more and more rarely as I get older. And having come to parenthood late in life, I want to be around for as much of my son’s life as I can possibly manage. No freakin’ way I’m giving up three years of that for something relatively trivial like missing a few colds, even if we’re talking the three years at the very end, when I’d presumably be in pretty crappy physical shape.
And yeah, when you’re 60 and looking at maybe 30-35 more years of life (thanks to good genes), 3 years is not huge, but it’s nontrivial. I’d give up a good bit to *add *three years to my life in order to spend that much more time with my son.
ETA: OP, I notice the phrase “by the time my growth plates close” which means you’re still pretty young. In my 20s, the difference between living to 82 v. 85 wouldn’t have mattered a bit back then, if I’d stopped to think about it. It damned well does now, though, I can tell you that.
The difference between 68 and 71 seems a whole lot more important at 52 than it would at 18. Turn it around, would you be willing to get a cold now and then if it would extend your life three years?
Yeah, I think I am biased because I am only 16. So to me, those ages are very far away so they seem negligible to me but significant to you guys who are older. Also, RTFirefly actually makes a good point which I didn’t see earlier (because I don’t have kids) about wanting to be alive for as much as your childrens’ lives.
But for now, I still stand by my original opinion. I am just saying that you guys have good points and my opinions might change later on down the road.
Well actually, I can understand your guys’ point of view. What I *can’t *understand is the people who are like, “OMG, I would never give up a minute of my life for anything!” as if the length of your life matters that much. Or maybe it’s just me that thinks that the number of years you live isn’t as important as how those years are.
Doesn’t work like that. Either you have colds/flues throughout your life like every other person and then get three extra years of your life or none and subtract three years from your life.
But if that was an actual question, yes, I would take one cold to live three years longer. But I mean that’s pretty obvious.
I have to admit, sometimes I like getting sick because I don’t really get to take off work otherwise. I’d rather be sick in bed or asleep than at work some days.
Granted, being at work on those not-too-sick-for-bed days sucks (I work from home so I can work sick w/o infecting others) but lots of times those days I am in super bitch mode and get more done.
Well, since I haven’t had either in over two years (and definitely fought off the flu about a year ago-typical (mild) symptoms as I went to bed, felt fine in the morning), no dilemma for me at all.
No…because colds and even flus are over quickly enough. If, all told, they added up to three years of coughing, sniffly, vomiting misery, maybe. But, seriously, how many weeks of colds, total, does one experience in a lifetime?
I think your question is interesting because it gets at something that I’ve wondered myself.
Every day we hear about how a different source of pleasure or convenience is harming us. Sugar, red meat, ethanol, plastics. You name it, it’s bad for us.
The surgeon general himself could call me up personally and tell me that I will die prematurely if I continue with my nightly dessert habit. It will scare me at first, but am I going to stop? Probably not. I suppose if he had a crystal ball and he told me I’d die 20 years prematurely, I’d think about it. But three years? Nah.
I wouldn’t sacrifice three years for a flu vaccine. I don’t get colds or the flu very often, so at least right now the benefit wouldn’t be that great. But that doesn’t mean I treasure my life above everything. If you told me that I could either live till I was 75 in perfect health or live till I was 80 wracked with chronic diseases and unable to care for myself, I’m going to go with 75. I like life, but I’m not in love with it that much.
Here’s some easy back-of-napkin math: if you have a week of cold per year and live to be 104, you’ll have a total of two years of misery. A week and 52 years adds up to one year and so on.
Anyways, I just saw my 93 years old grandma in the hospital a few days back and if I could avoid what she’s going through by reducing my life by three years, I’d do that even if there was no flu immunity involved at all.
I hate to ask…but what is she undergoing? Most certainly, there are horrors that I’d happily pay three years of my life to avoid…and I ain’t young. St. Joseph, give me a comfortable death!
Alzheimer’s, brain tumor, heart problems, no teeth, weak legs … and stuck in a small hospital room with four other patients, one of which keeps on screaming nonsense. Probably also bunch of other problems I don’t know about. Being old is no picnic.
This is going to piss some people off but it is generally true. I seriously doubt you have influenza otherwise you wouldn’t be typing questions like this on a message board. The ‘flu’ is not just a bad cold, it can be incredibly serious and many fewer people have it than the self-reports would have you to believe. I have had it exactly once and that was only because I got exposed to it through an unrelated emergency room visit where they had true flu victims quarantined off and I was put near them. I got it the next day myself. I literally couldn’t move for 4 days even to go to the bathroom.
To answer your question, I would have killed myself during the middle of it except that I didn’t have the energy to pull the trigger even if I had a gun beside me. Common colds suck but they aren’t anywhere near the true influenza virus. I can live with those including bronchitis if they come sporadically.
I couldn’t live with the thought that I was going to get true influenza every couple of years. That stuff is serious and can kill you. Even if it doesn’t, it makes you think you are 3/4 dead already and makes you wish you could finish off the job except you can’t because you don’t have the energy.
It is the difference between stubbing your little toe and having your whole leg slowly eaten off in a meat grinder. I wish more people understood the distinction and stopped calling bad colds the ‘flu’ when they are not.
Colds and flus suck, sure (especially the flu by about ten-fold), but Christ no. When you’re on your deathbed, or having that heart attack, I can’t imagine the regret (no matter how short lived) for such a fool’s trade.
Fuck yes. I’m assuming my last three years of life will be the crappiest ones anyway. Maybe it will cut out the entire nursing home stay. (fingers crossed)
