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NlghtJumper

Fears of Death

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I the last two years, I have a new fear of death. And it's for selfish reasons.

I want to see my son grow up. I want to give him siblings and see them grow up.



Couldn't really call that, "selfish." It's how a parent feels who loves their children. Being a parent really changes that whole dimension. I had not been "afraid" of death my entire life. When I became a parent of two boys though, things changed without me even noticing. Like you said, I wanted to live as long as possible, did actually reduce certain risks to physical well-being - and it was worth it to me. A small price to pay to not miss one the greatest shows on earth - to participate in turning fragile babies into young men. What a privilege! I completely understand where you are coming from.

Now that they both are in college, and being single, I've enjoyably reverted back to the former views on things. It's not that I was ever afraid of death because I hold a pretty strong faith, but just that now with my sons doing so well in life I feel like I can move on with other things that appeal to my inner self. Like throwing my sorry butt off of high places and living to tell about it...

"The helicopter approaches closer than any other to fulfillment
of mankind's ancient dreams of a magic carpet" - Igor Sikorsky

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I only became afraid of death once I became a parent, for the sake of my children, and moreso as I have a disabled child that may never live independently. Add to the mix no family to help out really, and an older husband....and it's a major worry.

I agree the parent role changes things big time, but add a special needs child to the situation, and it's really a huge concern and even a stressful worry sometimes. I have spoken to other parents of
disabled kids and they feel the same way. It's very hard, and I think that much harder for someone that loves to be in the air and has to continually wonder if it's "ok" to keep jumping and take that extra additional risk of injury or death.

All those that can enjoy life and even skydiving without such fears and worry should appreciate their situation.

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Death doesn't scare me.



If you really had no fear of death, would you still have the same instantaneous "PULL NOW!" reaction if you realised you were low?

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It is the price one pays to play the game of life.



Are you playing by the same rules the rest of us are?

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I'm rowing in your boat:)
Not a lot frightens me. I especially wouln't refrain from an activity I really wanted to try b/c of a fear. Death, most certainly, does not scare me.

I'm also not on board with the saying that fear is part of one's natural protection.

My closest fear is Jaws.:D But, I still surf, swim along the shoreline in the ocean, and even royally support anti-shark fishing. I'd REALLY love to do a great-white shark dive.:)
Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

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I don't think I fear death, but I'd rather have it come the latest possible.



This also fascinates me. With all the recent advances in technology and more and more people becoming centenarians.

Personally, I do not wish to live past when I can function on my own. Lord, please take me before then!:)
Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

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Personally, I do not wish to live past when I can function on my own.



There you have it! I also agree with this. One thing I would hate more than anything, is to not be able to live independently. I can understand the reasoning of those with children. Currently I dont have any [that I know of at least] therefor I tend to follow the ambition of doing that which most people are afraid to do.

**A great white shark dive would be AWESOME!!!

A man will do anything for the right woman,
and when that woman destroys him,
that man will become a hunk of meat with the common sense of a rodeo clown! ~ Christopher Titus

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If you really had no fear of death, would you still have the same instantaneous "PULL NOW!" reaction if you realised you were low?



That, I think, is more of a reaction than it is a fear induced function.

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Are you playing by the same rules the rest of us are?



I dont know, how old is your rule book? :P

A man will do anything for the right woman,
and when that woman destroys him,
that man will become a hunk of meat with the common sense of a rodeo clown! ~ Christopher Titus

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I don't think I fear death, but I'd rather have it come the latest possible.



This also fascinates me. With all the recent advances in technology and more and more people becoming centenarians.

Personally, I do not wish to live past when I can function on my own. Lord, please take me before then!:)


So do I, but at 26 I feel I have much more to do, learn, and live before I die (sadly enough I don't believe in anything after death, or I could compensate with that thought). Various things, like having and raising children, skydive for real, discover other sports, invest myself in interesting projects, etc.

As you said, I'm not really interested in discovering how it feels to breathe through a machine or not being able to remember my grandchildrens' names ;). So maybe my "have it come the latest possible" formulation was not really what I meant, more like "not before I'm bored waking up every morning".

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In a way, proximity to death excites me.



If death didn't scare you, then it's proximity wouldn't excite you.



not nessesarily.. i get excited by new things all the time...

death is the next 'new' thing... one more hill i havent seen the other side of yet.. what Shakespeare refers to as the 'undiscovered country'

why fear the inevitable?? to quote one of my favorite authors.. "everyone lives in waiting for the sound of her wings"
____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

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I don't fear death.

I had a pretty wild experience coming home from Florida this past Tuesday on I-75. A girl came over on me in the middle lane. I was going between 85 and 90 and I swerved over into the slow lane to keep her from colliding with me. I lost control of the car and did two 360's in the middle of three lanes going North. I didn't panic. I didn't throw my hands up. I said to myself "Here We Go".. I was prepared for whatever happened. Sort of at peace with everything, cognizant the whole time. I ended up not hitting anything, not the median retaining wall, not another vehicle, not the 18 wheelers coming at me... I ended up on the side of the road in the grass. A guy in a Firebird that I had been following out of Gainesville stopped with me and said, "that was completely amazing. I can't believe you are standing here and there is nothing wrong with your car."

I've accepted death. It's going to happen to all of us eventually. I've lived a full life at just 29 years. Maybe my outlook will change if/when I ever have kids, but even then, that's not going to stop me from truly living.


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On New Years eve I did my first static line BASE jump (my 80th BASE jump in total) from a very very low 180 foot local span (it was my 4th time jumping from this object). You better believe I was afraid of dying. But I still jumped and I survived ... this time.

I'm not afriad of death in that we're all going to die one day. But I do respect death and don't want to foolishly kill myself doing something stupid that I didn't weigh the risks versus the rewards.


Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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Death doesn't scare me. It is the price one pays to play the game of life. I realize death scares some. If you are one of these people , please discuss your reasoning for such fear.

In a way, proximity to death excites me. Not to the point that i feel comfortable committing to activities with large [ yet calculated ] risks attached. In suck, some of my close friends have labeled me as, "Crazy". Does anyone else have a similar outlook to mine, or my friends correct in labeling me as such?





Death doesn't scare me just the pain that may happen right before:)



***Glory Favors the Bold***

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I understand you train of thought.

I've been fortunate to travel and experience a lot of things at 25. But I, too, have so many more things I want to experience in life. But, I just don't worry about not experiencing them. Obviously, I plan for the future, I invest, have a long-term plan for early retirement, etc. That's all banking on my being here for that day. Day-to-day however, I don't focus on being scared I might not be here for those things. And whether or not you believe in something after death, why worry about not accomplishing this or that before you go---I mean, how would you regret it?

As long as you can be satisfied and fullfilled with where you are right now and what you've so far accomplished/experienced, even if there's so much more you want to do, it's being happy enough with your status quo this instant. I can't imagine living a life where I was never able to enjoy what I have this moment. :)
Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

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Little moments like that are somehow so relaxing, in a way.

For me, even though I felt confident I could funtion within calm, quick response to a skydiving malfunction, there's still that curiosity b/c I've never been in a life/death experience. Until, once I tried several times to pull my pilot chute and it wouldn't budge. I say several times, but of course that all happened w/in a couple seconds. After the fact, what relaxed me and had me at peace with myself knowing I could function well and with good sense, was that during this time in my head I was thinking very clearly. I had this entire clear-thought-out process of what I would do and was never once worried or scared. In the time I could even explain my thoughts to someone, I'd thought it so clearly w/in a second in my mind. My pilot chute did finally come out the next try and no need for emergency procedures.

I had a similiar car-situation once, too. It was really rainy and I was going up an entrance ramp onto an expressway. I wasn't going fast, but hit "Florida Ice" and my car spun right off the edge (I was almost to the top) and all the way down the grassy hill. It did about a 540-degree spin. It was strange. I was very calm, and basically just drove back up the ramp and got on the expressway.:)
Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

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I've seen a lot of dead people, I've had several people die in front of me. THERE IS NOTHING COOL ABOUT DYING. One moment you are a walking talking , thinking human being, and the next you are just a rotting piece of meat. Death is not glamorous. Outside of a few circumstances, the only thing left are the grieving/suffering loved ones.

So, I don't quite get the "I want to be as close as possible to death so...".
Like the T-shirt says, "I take risks not to escape from life but keep life from escaping", is a much more accurate representation of how I feel. If I found that knitting would make me feel as skydiving does, guess who would be selling all his stuff?

Death is inevitable, so I don't associate living with dying. Death will come when it will come.
Inveniam Viam aut Faciam
I'm back biatches!

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Death is not glamorous. Outside of a few circumstances, the only thing left are the grieving/suffering loved ones.



I'm quite sure I didn't disagree with this. Perhaps you meant to reply to someone else. I don't have any desire to be:

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the "I want to be as close as possible to death so...".



I don't see why I should focus any energy on worrying about it or being afraid of it, though.[:/]
Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

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I was never scared of death until I had my son 3 years ago. Now I'm scared of death, not because I fear dying itself, but I fear what would happen to my son.

Proximity to death is exciting to all of us, or we wouldn't be jumping out of airplanes every chance we get!


One who looks for a friend without faults will have none. -- Hasidic Saying

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Proximity to death is exciting to all of us, or we wouldn't be jumping out of airplanes every chance we get!



I disagree. I don't feel any kind of proximity to death from skydiving. I think if I did, I wouldn't be doing it.

It's not that I'm naive and think nothing will happen to me, it's just that I do so many other things daily, like getting in my car, that I feel put my life far more at risk of being taken away, than skydiving--which in my opinion, is fairly safe.
Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

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Proximity to death is exciting to all of us, or we wouldn't be jumping out of airplanes every chance we get!



Yeah, that is what got me to post this. I was curious of the outlook everyone had while being in what can be considered a very dangerous sport...

A man will do anything for the right woman,
and when that woman destroys him,
that man will become a hunk of meat with the common sense of a rodeo clown! ~ Christopher Titus

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