If you were in an airplane that was about to crash, how do you believe you would view how you spent your life and the things that concerned you?

I think the panic at those moments would be too much to think about my wasted life. Yes, that would be part of my concern but not right then.

I would probably high five myself right before we hit.

I’d be too busy screaming like a bitch to give a shit.

I don’t think I would be thinking about my life, but instead, my loved one’s reactions to my potential death.

My father died in an aeroplane crash. In fact, he died in the crash on September 11th, 2001.
I had one last phone call with him before he died. I will never forget his last words.

I have tried to live a good life, with grace. Day to day I have been annoyed, reasonably and unreasonably with others, and also I have had great and small joys every day as well. I have survived life-threatening situations and wished for death. Every day I tell my grown children that I love them, and that is the most important thing. It is a good life, an ordinary life, uninteresting to all but myself and a few others.
Very satisfactory, indeed.

I am assuming that the plane crash is a vehicle (so to speak) for the introspection and not the point. If I’m wrong, I apologize for the ramble.

Let me rephrase this to take the completely-irrelevant plane crash out of the picture: Can you spend 5 minutes truly contemplating your own death in a way that forces you to evaluate how you actually live your life? And if you are able to do this, are you comfortable with what you see? Does real understanding of your mortality put your life’s actions, worries, and concerns in a new light?

I believe that I would calmly and steadily reflect on my many wins and my occasional losses, ruefully smile at some of my follies, recollect the memory of the many that I have loved and the few that, I hope, have loved me back, and given time, might add a few lines for those closest to me to remember me by…

… in a pig’s eye.
——
Oh, and in view of your amended question: Of course. I do that at least weekly. For reals.

Nope. Might go with a fist bump this time though.

I have a terrible fear of dying in a plane crash, so I can’t—and I won’t—speculate how I’d behave or what I’d think about in such a situation.

For me, the two most frightening movie depictions of a plane crash are in “Fearless” and “Flight.”

I’m very happy with how I’ve lived my life. When I had to face something similar the overwhelming feeling was sorrow at how I was going to hurt my loved ones by getting killed. I had no fear or panic, but lots of adrenaline. I never said a word aloud, but my brain was going 900 miles an hour.

I don’t think of life as a balance sheet. That’s a harsh way of thinking of oneself. I think it’s enough to actively try to be a good person, and do right by others.

I just want to be sitting next to @Blondesjon so we can fist-bump each other, rather than ourselves.

Although a wink and a self fist-bump sounds like a pretty good way to go.

And I give @dappled_leaves ‘Best in Show’. I generally ”actively try to be a good person, and do right by others.” Told of my imminent demise, I’d reflect on the acts of kindness I’ve been the recipient of. I want to go out on a positive ‘it’s not all about me’ note, as long as I’m doing the pre-planning.

Now I’m gonna go read ALL the responses and leave my BAs.

I had a pretty good answer for this but I am still ROTFLMAO @ @ragingloli

I would just start saying “thank you for this life experience” with the biggest smile on my face. I’ll probably start laughing. It was so unlikely that I was even brought into existence in the first place. I embrace the thought of entering eternity.

Ok @Dan_Lyons, give it up. Why is @ragingloli‘s comment so funny to you? Sounds rather tragic don’t you think?

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I suppose it would be tragic if her father really were aboard one of those flights…but somehow I rather doubt it.

I’ve known @ragingloli to be a lot of things, deviant, insightful, confrontational, educational… but I’ve never known @ragingloli to be a liar.

What is your reasoning for doubting the comments?

Sorry for your loss @ragingloli. I cannot imagine. No one in my family has ever met with such tragedy.

I’ll drink some sleeping pill. Bingo! Alive or dead, I don’t care now.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies What is your reasoning for doubting the comments?

Because I was given to understand that you are her father.

I believe I’d be viewing how I spent my life with my head between my knees, kissing my ass goodbye.

One of my biggest concerns is the feeling of never being able to learn everything before I die. There’s just so much stuff out there. For instance, I’m pretty into wine, enough that it’s my job now. The Burgundy wine region alone is enough for more than a lifetime worth of study… and that’s just one region.

And that’s just one interest. What about physics, astronomy, foreign languages, art, and writing… never mind the massive amount of books that are out there, more than I can ever possibly read all by myself?

A lot of people have said I seem distracted; honestly, they have no idea. So no matter what gets me in the end, or when, that will be an issue. But at least I can say I tried.

@Dan_Lyons “I was given to understand that you are her father.”

Fascinating Dan. Please share how you were given to understand such a thing.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies
His last words were
Allahu Akbar
I was waiting for someone to ask me what his last words were, to finish off the joke.

Sorry for your loss.

Hm. Well, no – I haven’t spent most of my life acting “meaningfully”. At least not as I understand the term.

On a typical day, I “waste” some time by watching TV, cleaning things that will get dirty again, or being on Fluther asking questions about lost books. Isn’t life’s purpose wasting time, though? Life is time. It passes. I can decide to give my life to others, or keep it for myself. As it is, I balance the two quite well. I do spend much of my time using my brain, making myself genuinely happy, or making others happy. I wouldn’t know what happiness feels like if I didn’t also let myself get angry at trivialities, though.

To answer this lightly more clearly: Contemplating my own death, I can’t help but think of the many different people that would miss me, as well as their reasons for doing so. The reasons are legitimate. I am definitely needed, and that is probably what I meant to say in my first paragraph.

I just woke up. Forgive me for the incoherent rambling.

@ragingloli We all know you too well to have to ask. :P However, your response will shortly also be modded into oblivion – that’s not proper English!!

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Dude.