Your last thoughts?

[skwurll]

Okay, lets just assume everyone here is an atheist. (Just setting the framework for this thread, as there are religious people here)
Since everyone here will eventually die, I was wondering, what do you want your last thoughts to be?

I want my last thoughts to be about my accomplishments in life, and how I've made the world better in at least one way. Hopefully by the time I die I will have accomplished at least some small change for the better in the world.

P.S. I might be rambling on a little, it's late here.

[elliebean]

It's a weird question for me because I've actually been through it before. So I'd like to say that I know what it's like, or here's what my 'last' thoughts were, but I don't remember anything after going out the night before (at least 12 hours earlier) until I woke up, some 20 hours later. And then things are sketchy for a while. Actually, they still are a lot of the time.

But next time around, I'd like to be thinking, "OMG this is so much fun! WOOOT!"  

[kelltrill]

I guess I would want my last thoughts to be about my family and loved ones, whether they're still alive at that time or passed away.
I also really don't want to die thinking, "shit, I haven't done what I wanted to do yet."

Ellie, check out a song called Happy Phantom by Tori Amos.

[AlP]

"Actually, my name is Austin Powers. Danger is my middle name."

[Whitney]

I'm not sure that I care what my last thoughts are...it's not like I expect to remember them after that.

[curiosityandthecat]

Mine will be, and I quote, "OH SHI-"

[elliebean]

Ellie, check out a song called Happy Phantom by Tori Amos.

Nice!  

I think that was among the songs she performed when I saw her in Santa Barbara, California, back in... oh, 1995, 96? Great show!

[Tom62]

Mine would be: "Oops" or "What is that snake doing in my cupboard?"

[Tanker]

Um... I actually can say for a fact what my dying thoughts...were. You see I almost died. I KNEW I was going to die. I was going to drown in a small compartment slowly filling with foul polluted canal water. I had 45 minutes watching the water rise knowing I would die. I wish I could say my thoughts were nobel, or altruistic, or even calm. What my final thoughts were, often reflected in my speach were "I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING DIE!" and "SHIT FUCK FUCK fuck COCK FUCK shitGOD DAMN BULLSHIT!", followed by some "FUCKING HELL I REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T WANT TO DIE!" and of course "shit shit shit shit shit shit shit". So on.

So when I didn't die I at the very least was sure I love LLLLLLLLLOOOOOVVVEEEEE living.

[skwurll]

Um... I actually can say for a fact what my dying thoughts...were. You see I almost died. I KNEW I was going to die. I was going to drown in a small compartment slowly filling with foul polluted canal water. I had 45 minutes watching the water rise knowing I would die. I wish I could say my thoughts were nobel, or altruistic, or even calm. What my final thoughts were, often reflected in my speach were "I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING DIE!" and "SHIT FUCK FUCK fuck COCK FUCK shitGOD DAMN BULLSHIT!", followed by some "FUCKING HELL I REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T WANT TO DIE!" and of course "shit shit shit shit shit shit shit". So on.

So when I didn't die I at the very least was sure I love LLLLLLLLLOOOOOVVVEEEEE living.

Sounds intense, I can't help but ask, how did you get in that situation?

[theTwiz]

I have a couple:

"Respawn in 10....9....8....7...."

"Take THIS zombies!" *detonates nuke*

Or in the event I die saving humanity from alien invaders, but society will basically have to be rebuilt from the ground up:

"Hey humans: don't fuck it up this time."

[Tanker]

Um... I actually can say for a fact what my dying thoughts...were. You see I almost died. I KNEW I was going to die. I was going to drown in a small compartment slowly filling with foul polluted canal water. I had 45 minutes watching the water rise knowing I would die. I wish I could say my thoughts were nobel, or altruistic, or even calm. What my final thoughts were, often reflected in my speach were "I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING DIE!" and "SHIT FUCK FUCK fuck COCK FUCK shitGOD DAMN BULLSHIT!", followed by some "FUCKING HELL I REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T WANT TO DIE!" and of course "shit shit shit shit shit shit shit". So on.

So when I didn't die I at the very least was sure I love LLLLLLLLLOOOOOVVVEEEEE living.

Sounds intense, I can't help but ask, how did you get in that situation?

Not really a secret but my previous posts on the subject are probably buried in forum purgatory.

Anyway I was a Tanker in the Army. I did 2 tours in Iraq for a total of 29 months. While this was not my only close call it was by far the most truamatic. On my first tour in Iraq a shit storm of bad conditions happened and I flipped my tank off a bridge. I don't remembr the roll I woke up sputtering, confussed, and hacking actual mud out. At first I and the other two on the tank (normally 4) wearn't terribly worried when we went into the canal. We were upset but we all believed the canal was 2 or 3 feet deep. We were wrong. Upside down the only portion of our 9 foot tall tank above water was the track pads (think tire tread, just the tread). By very good chance our wing tank comander who had lost sight of us around the cornner looked in the canal and realised what he was seeing...us. By this time it had become obvious to us in the tank that the water was NOT only a couple of feet deep because the water kept rising and rising. We landed upside down so the air in the tank stayed trapped like an upside down cup in water. However tanks are not air tight so our air leaked slowly out for 45 minutes. A long long 45 minutes. I was in the driver station alone and slightly lower then the turret so my space filled a bit faster then the turret. Im also claustrophobic. Normally this isn't an issue in a tank because there are always (usually) at least 2 ways out. Upside down there was no way out and trust me we tried everything. We could hear them banging around outside trying to get us out however we had seen no progress except the slow rise of the water. I was freaking the fuck out. Really, I'm embaressed to admit, totaly losing my mind. My crew kept there heads a bit better then I and tried to keep me calm so I wouldn't use up our limited oxygen. To be fair I was literally trapped and dying in my worst fear. Eventually I had my face pressed into the highest point in my now upside down station. I had about and inch and a half of air left....my pistol was in my lap. Like I said about to die in my worst fear and out of my mind mind in pannick. I am not proud of this but I digress. An inch an a half left, 45 minutes trapped, and then the tank shifted. Progress at last. It moved our air pocket so we had about 9 glorious inches of air space and knowledge that we should soon be free. About 2 minutes later the tank shifted again this time to nearly 90 degrees. The T.C.'s hatch was clear and my Tank commander and Gunner got out. My hatch was jammed a bit from the odd angle and after a brief moment of further pannick it freed up...finally. Appearently we all said the exact same thing when we got on dry land "Give me a fucking cigerette". Half the battalion was there pulling security or assisting in the jury rigged rescue op. Never have I been so glad to be alive. Standing there in a tanks exaust trying to warm up, with literaly shit/mud (canal=open sewer) plastered to my body, and a cigerette hanging from my mouth. Great to be alive.

Apearently the tank recovery is now taught in mechanics AIT (school) in the Army now. It's infamous. It took 2 days, 3 M-88 recovery vehichles, and a navy dive team. The dive team found we had landed on an Iraqi tank which had gone off in the same place otherwise there would have been no trace of us. Alot more details and  amazing luck got left out but this is already a epic and covers most of the major events.

Before we went in I was an Atheist, while we were underwater I never made any entreaty to any higher power, after we came out I was still an Atheist. Same with my T.C. who had been an atheist since he was 13 or 14. Our gunner was a Wiccan he said he could hear Shondie and Omwardi, 2 guys we had lost the month before, telling him "you're gonna be ok" and "you will make it out". Hmm quite the...rare crew actually.

Sorry for the derail but I just couldn't stop typing.

Edit: I really outdid myself on typos. Sorry but I really don't feel like trying to correct them all.

[skwurll]

Remind me to never drive a tank near a canal.

[AlP]

Wow that's an amazing story Tanker. I'm glad you're still alive. That seems like a close call.

[Chewbie Chan]

I want my last thoughts to be very few, i.e. I would like to die after having had a chance to tell people I'm going and then sitting quietly until my mind is very still. It would be really awesome to go out that way.

Incidentally I have a hard time steering clear of nearly dying. Judging by past experience I probably won't go out like I'd want. Some example thoughts I've had when I felt I could die the next moment:-

"Cool. I'm special. I got an ambulance ride. Hmm. The hospital lights look kind of trippy..."

"NO! Not now! I haven't had enough time! I'm meant to do something, surely?"

"Gah! WTF? I can't breathe at all now!"

"This is kind of dragging on so hurry it up, please."

"My girlfriend is going to find me dead outside the flat - this is so sad." (for her - we'd only just begun to live together)