# Would you rather... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 1999, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781 "1999-10-02T15:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 1999, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/1 "1999-10-02T15:56:00Z")
Live a long, fulfilled, satisfying–but not remarkable or world-changing–life and die around age 85… _or_ Live a brief, troubled, but brilliantly impacting life that leaves the world remembering your name in history books for years to come–and die at age 30? (Thinking about Princess Di led me to this question, not that I think her life was “brilliant,” but it was impacting no less. Also, I’m reading _Into The Wild,_ which chronicles an idealistic young man who died living anything but an ordinary life.) I’ll 'fess up first: I’ve outgrown my need to have the world love and remember me. Impact on the global level is no longer as important to me as impact on the personal level. So, the long, fulfilled life is where I’d go. * * * “My cat’s breath smells like cat food.” --Ralph Wiggum, hero and icon ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 1999, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/2 "1999-10-02T16:00:00Z")
When I was 20 I would’ve said the latter. Now that I’m 35 I’d rather do the former. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 1999, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/3 "1999-10-02T16:40:00Z")
First option. Not that it matters, as I’m never going to die, but theoretically speaking… * * * Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Shadowfox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfox)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 1999, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/4 "1999-10-02T16:46:00Z")
Can’t I have a full and impacting life, and still live to be 85? I’m doomed to live into my 90’s anyways. The running joke in my family is that all the women live into their 90’s, and the men usually drop dead in their 40’s or 50’s, **not that us women had anything to do with that** 🙂 Shadowfox ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/5 "1999-10-03T05:48:00Z")
I’ll take one from column A and one from column B. Actually, the first. And even better, I’d like to have this information up front, so I can relax! ## Stoid * * * This is a non-smoking area. If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire and act accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/6 "1999-10-03T05:59:00Z")
I’ve got a good start on the first part, something that I find more and more amazing every day. I used to want to do something (one thing) really excellently and leave a mark rather than a lot of things pretty well and leave no mark. Now, however, I know myself and am content. As I think on the people we consider genius of some sort (Van Gogh, Beethoven, Mozart, etc), they all seem to have this tragic vein, their muse ruling them. ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 1999, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/7 "1999-10-02T21:44:00Z")
The first. I only have nine years to work on the second one, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Felinecare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Felinecare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Felinecare)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 1999, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/8 "1999-10-02T22:54:00Z")
_Hope I die before I get old…_ I never want to act as I see some (hey, I said _some_) older people acting - afraid of the world, afraid of change, afraid of difference, long given up on their lives, and hating every minute of the day. Let me go before I reach that stage, but better yet, let me live long with a sense of humor and I’ll get by. ---
**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:** [October 3, 1999, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/9 "1999-10-03T01:49:00Z")
I’ve often told myself that I’d rather live a short life I enjoyed, rather than a long life I didn’t enjoy. But that’s not really what this thread is about. So I definitely say the former. I have no desires to be famous in any way. I mean, who cares really? * * * “So what you are telling me, Percy, is that something you have never seen is _slightly less blue_ than something else that you have never seen.” ---
**Author:** ![E1skeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3da27b/32.png) [@E1skeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E1skeptic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/10 "1999-10-03T04:25:00Z")
> [@](#): > > a brief, troubled, but brilliantly impacting life that leaves the world remembering your name in history books for years to come–and die at age 30? Darn! I thought you were going to mention **Alexander the Great** , not Diana! (nothing against her, though) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/11 "1999-10-03T04:36:00Z")
Combine the two and live to be 120 through the help of Yoplait 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/12 "1999-10-03T04:42:00Z")
What does it matter? I’ve known my whole life I’ll die at age 23 anyway. –Tim * * * We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/13 "1999-10-03T06:08:00Z")
I don’t especially want to make a profound impact on the world or anything but I have to say living to an old age fills me with dread. I’m not exactly one of those “hooray for life” people so even if I died at 30 having not accomplished anything that would be ok with me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/14 "1999-10-03T06:34:00Z")
E1Skeptic–yeah, yeah, Diana isn’t exactly historical lore. But, they were talking about her on the radio station I was listening to, and they suggested she would have almost wanted it “this way,” what with the “legacy” and all. Yeah, 'cause everyone wants to bleed to death in a car accident. Personally, I don’t get her appeal at all. Joan of Arc did more is less time. Heck, so did Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/15 "1999-10-03T06:52:00Z")
I used to want all the drama, rock-star, live fast-die young stuff, but having survived to 37, a nice long regular life seems just fine to me. Also, having come about as close as one can to dying without actually doing it a few years back kind of took the shine off the whole dying young thing. Catrandom ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/16 "1999-10-03T06:55:00Z")
As long as I can choose the impact I’d have on the world… the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Temujin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Temujin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temujin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/17 "1999-10-03T11:53:00Z")
Unless you’re Jesus, nobody is going to remember you in 2000 years. I’d choose the first option, because: 1) who cares if the world loves me? and 2) maybe a long, satisfying life is more world-changing in its own, subtle way than a short, blazing one that everyone notices. Like in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” ---
**Author:** ![cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cody)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 1999, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/18 "1999-10-04T05:53:00Z")
In the words of George Costanza: “I don’t want to be remembered. I want to be forgotten.” ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 1999, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather/8781/19 "1999-10-03T20:48:00Z")
So you live the brief, comet-like existence, acquiring great fame, talent and so-called immortality; you make James Dean look like Richard Kline; your contributions to the world of art, science or whatever will be remembered for eons to come and people will always say your name with great reverence…then you die… Upon death you realize, compared to the greater universe, what a miserable, insignificant little crumb of bat dung planet Earth is and that all the fame and glory don’t really mean much. You sheephishly admit to yourself, “Jeez, I shoulda gone with the first option.” * * * Tim “My hovercraft is full of eels.”