Wraping it up in 10 days- Part I

Tonight, at the end of a good day with a good progress on work, it suddenly occurred to me: What would different people plan to do if became certain they were going to die in 10 days from now? It was an exciting topic. I signed onto both my MSN and Y! Messenger and scanned through my contacts. A handful number of my good friends were on, although some had tagged "busy" or "away".

I started first with Frnd1. She first became worried that i might have been feeling miserable or unhappy and feeling like killing myself that I even thought about this question. So, I learned that for the next contacts i should start the question first with some friendly ordinary lines not to make them worry. She expressed she would keep doing the same things as she is doing now and that she lives like everyday is her last day. I challenged her what if she is not interested in doing what she is routinely doing and would she keep on finishing the assignments which she has been complaining much about? She stressed YES if she likes them. (i wondered here if there is any assignment of his/her most favorite course on earth any student ever liked to do, let alone those of boring courses). She was also honest enough to utter that she would try to be herself, not others, and forget about responsibilities and do whatever she likes to do herself. I was about to make her address my question more clearly that she set a condition “you must answer the same question yourself first”. I reluctantly talked about what I would do and when I came to a point where I mentioned about "contribution", she reproached she would rather live for her own survival than contribute to the humanity. I thought I had a goal set almost in the same direction when I were younger. I discontinued chatting with her, thinking I got the answer of my question.

Then I popped up parallel windows with three of my male friends. “Let see if this question has a gender-related answer” I wondered. I had to make it short because it seemed to me they were all sort of busy, somewhere at the middle of a development process in their life. Frnd2 said he would rather travel around the world with his family. “What is this decision based on? Joy? Learning? Helping? “, I asked curiously. “No real reason”, was his response transmitted to me with little interest of him. “It can't be” I snapped at him to myself, “no decision can be made without any reason, either instinctly inspired or rationally reasoned.” Then I soon became convinced that traveling brings us the most joy among all the other exciting things. He admitted, though, that he would stop writing any more academic papers had he seen no benefit would reach him out of it in 10 days. That was all from Frnd2.

A new type of answers was being received from Frnd3 in the meanwhile. He claimed, similar to Frnd1, he would opt to try things he had been always afraid of because of other peoples judgments. Although he did not explicitly point to any clear example, I thought I really hadn’t expected a number of younger friends still are dreaming about some normal doings of human beings which soon or late will happen. For example, I thought of having sex. I did not regard “having sex” a great contribution to the life, as it is normally coming to our life without making much effort. To the same eyes of myself when I was younger, I remember, sex was obviously a big desire. It was through this observation that I concluded: the greatest contribution of us in the life is having sex. And this blooms in us at an early stage of our life. In fact, it was an indication of the fact that bringing another fresh preson to this world is by itself a contribution.

I decided to chat with another female friend who was also busy. Kidding or serious, her first reaction to my question was that she would go get pregnant! “why thought?” I surprisingly asked. “Just to try what every adult is supposed to try, and for its joy”. Becoming pregnant only takes one night, according to her(I have no clue about this stuff!!!) and she probably needs to think about the other 9 nights! While admitting the sense of joke clearly seen in her response, it was yet interesting how a typical answer of a female is different from that of a guy, and yet both serve the same need. I am to continue the talk with her sometime later maybe.


Trying to convey he is not afraid of death, Frnd4 indifferently said he would just stay at home, watch TV, and continue routine life. “Why don’t you do more exciting things, like traveling, dancing with and kissing girls, or so forth” I pushed him to answer. His response was too impulsive to be based on a real thought when he suddenly said: “you don’t enjoy anything unless you believe in it” and I assumed he meant traveling is not fun when he knows he is going to die soon.

I could catch one of my old smart friends,Frnd5 who is now studying at a very good university in US. Her response was that she would surely quite the school, come back home and stay the rest with her family. Her reason for that was just to enjoy and have fun. When asked what the difference is between the cases when she is and she is not likely to die soon, she said she plans her next steps according to how many years she foresees she can live. For her, dying out when she is not normally supposed to is sort of “failing to reach a goal.”, though honorable.

Frnd6 was one of the most intelligent boys I have ever met. He can give you the answer to any puzzles you can think of in a flash. He had a religious view on the topic and believed he would ask his God to forgive him. I persisted “why should you stop your great research and good work even for a day,” he replied it wouldn't benefit anyone in such a “short” time, rather, he needs to sort out the possible issues in his life time and get prepared for an eternal life.


Frnd7 was a nice married guy with a wife and two cute kids: A boy and a girl. It came to me very evident when, as a father, he confidently reacted that he would deal with his kids and try to arrange all the necessary elements which guarantee his kids’ future life and education. To my “why” question, his single answer was highlighting a “responsibility” matter. It sounded a reasonable answer, but knowing he was atheist, I intended to make matters even clearer, so I asked, “Does it matter for you what your kids would do and how earth would look like if you don’t exist”? “It is my responsibility, my friend. My fatherly responsibility as a living father.” I took his word but continued: “and what if you are doing a very promising research on your project whose outcome can benefit a society of 1000 people, say an advanced surgery device for people with heart disease, and it can be finished in 10 days? Wouldn’t you choose to spend time on things which will make bigger contribution to the life in a bigger picture than your two little kids who would anyways survive by the help of their mom?” He calmly said:” No, my young friend! all those sick 1000 people have someone to take care after them. I just know my responsibility as a dad for these two kids. And I am not a Saint to live for the sake of others.” “Makes a complete sense!” I finished the talk while bewildered with a lot new questions in mind.

I came back to my desk and saw Frnd8 had finally replied my "hey" in MSN. "Are you kidding me, Mohsen? Why are you asking this question? I dont want to think about death" he replied uneasily. " I am so sorry! Never intended to thrill you. I have been asking this question from my close friends, just out of curosity" I tried to ease him. After a delay he uttered he didnt know what to answer, but he talked how in a SciFic book he had read as a child he had imagined his dead body moving in space. He was the second person who asked back about my opinion and I told him about my profound desire of returning back to Iran soon just to see my grandmom once more before losing her and all her legends and information. Our converstation ended up with his emotional reaction when he friendly let me know that he just cried beacuse he was reminded of his family and how much he loved them. I really didnt anticipate this question would spark such a strong raection but thought soon or late every young person would once think about this important subject.