Maggie's Farm

It's frequently the case that people reach a point where they WANT to die. It's a toxic world out there, and there's only one exit.

Right, I hear you. Many people want to die because their health or finances are failing. I wasn't clear, though, in my intent, and it's more along the lines of what a Bible study group might (or, hey, might not) be after.

I have found that many people want to die simply because they don't want to live. Their lives are full of grief, they're joyless, or they are choked by their own corruption. That sort of thing.

Frankly, this world is overflowing with human corruption. On that basis, eternal life sounds unbearable.

Some people want to die because they see death as a means to avoid consequences they see dead ahead. Judas and Hitler are famous examples of this.

Some people want to die because whatever they lived for is gone. Parents who lose kids, for example.

On the other hand, some people live for hate.

Uh, but the question was: If I could take a pill that would allow me to live forever, would I? My answer is there's not enough information. "How" I would live (in an iron lung?) is one issue. Another is - will everyone else live forever, or just me?

Another question is - what could I do if I lived forever, and no one else did? The answer is - just about anything. Eventually I would be the richest and most famous man on Earth (just like vampires or Fry on Futurama). So if I could imagine what I could accomplish with all that money, and the thought of doing those things pleased me, and I wasn't bedridden (or maybe even if I was) I might take the pill.

Habu, you could probably get all of that except the age part. I don't know what age you'd settle in at. But remember that 40 is the new 20, 70 is the new 30, and K-Mart is the new Five and Dime.

"Would it all mean anything at all without an end?"

Our finite fragile mortality is probably an integral part of the whole plan, BD. That's my working theory.

"Now, about this doing good if we lived on and on and on and on and on ....."

Hey there, Habu. Whether you choose to "do good" with all your time and money, in your now-infinite lifestyle, is up to you. And for that matter, whether you ARE doing good, even if you try, can be uncomfortably subjective. (I learned this reading Superman comics when he would blow a house down with Superbreath though he was actually just trying to put out a kitchen fire. Although with him it was usually because of Gold Kryptonite or Mr. Myxptlk, whereas with me it would be clumsiness or poor judgement.)

Anyway, another commenter mentioned Groundhog Day, in which Bill Murray tries all kinds of things, good and evil, but in the end chooses to serve others because he finds it the most satisfying use of his time. So we are assuming that Bill has the right idea on that basis.

Your point about this going on at possibly excruciating length is well taken. I suspect that this world, and we humans, are just not set up to go on and on and on. This world is designed, top to bottom, for cycles in all things. We have day and night, moon and sun, winter and summer, life and death, etc. Therefore I think this magic pill designed to keep us walking around the planet (while of course accumulating compound interest) just won't work. I suspect we would not like it, and that our cycle-bound fellow creatures would almost certainly resent the hell out of it (whether they said so to our faces or not).

Now, you want to know if you get to wax (or as we like to say here in Sopranoland, "whack") Chavez. Well, naturally you get to do pretty much what you want. But I think it's kind of like those time travel movies, where if you step on a butterfly during the Jurassic era, Star Wars never gets made and everybody speaks Dutch. In other words you, Habu, are kind of a God on Earth. As such, you either have to become General Zod (and remember how bored HE got) or, more likely, you will learn to wield your vast power lightly - like Ghandi or Dick Clark.

Perhaps you were concerned about having some inherent RESPONSIBILITY to off the bad guys. No, I don't think you do. But I do think there will be some among the public who would insist that you do so. One way or another, I think you will wind up resisting those voices, and as such you will experience resentment among the mortal, Earthbound public. (BTW: Try to resist using the phrase 'puny humans' no matter how good it feels. You'll only make things worse.)

The problem for you, Habu, is not going to be in finding a balance of activities to occupy yourself. The problem is that neither you nor the planet is not designed to accommodate someone who flouts all the rules. Observe The Donald and you'll see what I mean.

Going to heaven means going to a place specifically designed for eternity. The people you encounter won't resent your special status because they enjoy that self-same status. And all the people who made this world such a miserable place (and would make eternity on Earth something of a torment) have been, as we also say in Sopranoland, relocated.

As far as having the hot babe and cool location, hey, I'm with you. I'm confident something can be arranged to accommodate Habu, Champion of the Handicapped Parker.