Great answer. I strive to adopt this mentality too.
Excellent question though. I do need to not take my family for granted, the way I know I do.
Excellent point. I think we all do.
Just wondering, OP, what were your answers/were there any that sparked debate in your class? It seems that there is a trend in the answers in this thread.
The questions were part of a session within our Christian society and we were just generating discussion as a means of evaluating how we view our lives and whether it's how we really should be viewing it. We then approached general people on the campus and put the questions to them to see what your average person thought about it.
Some people said food lol, some people said family, getting a good degree (as you would expect within a university setting, a couple said God, although I felt some of these people were just saying that as they felt that was the expected answer and were just saying that to appease us in a way. When we asked the second question most people turned to family and contemplation on how they lived their lives, whereas others talked about how they would like to do stuff that they never got the chance to do. Some admitted they would contemplate what would happen to them after they died.
One individual, after we asked him the second question, said that they're young and that they didn't want to think about dying, and that it was ages away. I know no one wants to think of life in this way, but as soon as he said that I thought to myself that he could die tomorrow for all we know, or even in the next minute. It opened my eyes to the fact that we under estimate the value of life daily. I'll admit, I do it too. Another woman said to me, 'Why are you asking me this on a Friday afternoon, this isn't stuff you talk about on a Friday, I'm about to go to a Christmas party'. I lol'd and replied 'When do you want me to come talk to you about it, Monday, Tuesday evening?' Truth is, who knows if I'll be alive to talk to you about it then?
Before I get accused of making this thread to provoke religious debate, I did not. I think that it's a shame we aren't allowed to talk about it in a mature fashion, but I respect the rules and the moderators here. I merely did it to provoke contemplation on aspects of life, that we as humans tend to shun and not want to think about. We then went on to ask people about their views on what they though happened to them after death, whether they believed nothing would happen, whether they thought they would go to heaven or hell etc. But like I said I don't want to be accused of opening up religious debate, so I just put the first three questions. To any mods who think this thread will open too much religious debate, I apologise, but I think the questions can be addressed without too much religious debate.
tl;dr
In conclusion, it was just designed to think about the value of life and how we take it for granted. Thanks for answering guys and being honest. Love your life and the people in it. Never hold a meaningless grudge against someone, it truly is fruitless.
I couldn't imagine myself not spending my last few hours of life without them. So, in that respect, the quest for accumulating knowledge and ability would have to be relegated to the backburner!
