For me, if death arrives in the form of a massive stroke or a Bing-Crosby-sized heart attack (Crosby was purportedly dead before he hit the ground after playing 18 holes of golf—what a way to go... assuming you like golf), I welcome that. If, on the other hand, it's a long, painful heart attack that leaves me gasping and fearful of the coming darkness as I'm slipping away, I'm probably not going to welcome that. If it's a serious stroke that leaves me alive and conscious enough to realize I'm now utterly debilitated, well, that's not going to be very nice, either. Best hoped-for option: die in my sleep when I'm barely conscious, anyway. Below is a video that attempts to describe, from the inside, what a "pleasant" death* is like. Watch the video and ask yourself whether you trust the description.
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*The term euthanasia come from the Greek eu (good) + thanatos (death). The Marvel villain Thanos's name is derived from thanatos. In the comics, Thanos was in love with the cosmic force/principle known as Lady Death (which makes me think of Santa Muerte).
The FC Seoul's most 'ultra' supporters group is called Thanatos.
ReplyDeleteDo they live up to their name and bring death to their opponents?
DeleteI think you'd have heard about it on the news if they did...
ReplyDeleteYeah, maybe, but I'm pretty deaf to local news, partly because I just don't watch any TV, Korean or otherwise, and I certainly don't subscribe to any dead-tree papers. I should probably start reading the online Joongang, the Times, the Herald, the Chosun Ilbo, and even the Hanki/Hanky, but I already read so much other crap that I have little time for more. My main source of Korean news is the blog ROK Drop, but that guy's often a day or more behind the news cycle.
DeleteOne of the few videos I actually watched to the end (being only five minutes long helped), and I found it strangely comforting. Of course, the odds of dying in my sleep versus getting squashed on the highway or falling down a mountain are probably not in my favor...
ReplyDelete