Pages

Sunday, July 28, 2019

100 things to do before you die

Years ago there was a "reality" TV show about four young guys traveling the country. The premise was crossing off a list of 100 things to do before you die. It became a bestselling book.

That's actually a good question everyone should ask themselves. What do you want to do before you die? If you made a wish list of stuff  to do before you die, what would be on the list? 

The problem, though, is while it's an important question, the answers are only as good as the respondent's worldview. For instance:


Having posed a good question, they have no good answers. It comes down to filler. They have nothing worthwhile to live for.

When I was a boy, back in the 60s, I remember watching an interview with Richard Basehart. He was a ubiquitous voice actor and character actor in film and TV. I knew him from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

He said something I'll never forget. I don't remember the exact words, but he had a pithy statement about his philosophy of life: it's just about beating the odds of your father's premature ejaculation. 

That was his worldview. That was his answer to the big meaning of life question.

At the time it was a shocking thing to say because back in those days people weren't normally that explicit on national television. It wouldn't have the same shock value today. At that age the statement might have passed over my head, but I happened to be watching the interview with my father, and his surprised reaction made it memorable. That's why it stuck in my mind. Whether I understood it at the time, it stayed with me.

It's a frank, unsparing view of human existence in a godless universe. Not the sort of slogan the Atheist Bus Campaign will run on. 

1 comment:

  1. *Looks at list* Wow, kind of lame.

    Amazing how much absolutely useless and pointless stuff exists. New Netflix series, new HBO series, and once you're done watching, what did you gain? Nothing. I say this as someone who had watched plenty of anime and video games (one game on Steam has 3 weeks of hours logged!). What a waste of time that was.

    ReplyDelete