Note: Alison does not bear any responsibility for any editing errors in this post. I assume complete responsibility.
So, I heard a question today that I thought was interesting and figured I'd ask everybody. It's in Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley. Apparently the question was originally from one of Dr. Kearl's midterms. Anyways, here's the question:
"Assume that you have been guaranteed 1000 years of uninterrupted life here on earth, with all your wants and needs adequately funded: how would you plan to spend the rest of your lives here?"
My response was that I would need a lot of books and a frisbee.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
An interesting question
Posted by morgan at 3:50 PM
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7 comments:
That sounds like about enough time to read everything I've ever wanted to read (taking into consideration that I'd need to learn Hebrew, Greek, and Latin and Chinese and oh bother--many many languages along the way).
I have more thoughts on this, but they'll need to wait (I'm working).
Maybe I'd finally get that table finished.
I would infiltrate several governments, each time with a different identity. I would also get elected to the US Senate, since once you pass three terms or so, its very hard to be defeated in an election (think Strom Thurmond/Robert Byrd)
That would also be enough time to travel to the nearest few stars and back at sub-light speeds. I'd dedicate at least a century to that.
I nice English or French garden (the ones that take a hundred years to cultivate just right) would be nice.
Put $10,000 into a stock portfolio, with compounded interest and reinvested earnings, then in a few hundred years I would be the richest person in the world.
For the first century, I would stay in school and learn as much as I could.
The second I would travel all over the place.
The third I would play chess.
The fourth I would drape myself in velvet and eat toast and hunks of cheese.
The fifth I would wear my pants really high and live in south Florida.
The sixth I would be a colonial America tour guide.
The seventh I would try my hand at politics.
The eighth I would be a crotchety old man and yell at young whippersnappers.
The ninth my pants would inch higher and I would buy white shoes.
The tenth I would travel some more.
The first thing I'd do is build a rocking Adirondack chair. I sat in one the other day after a Relay for Life event and I thought I'd entered heaven. I'd get jobs that I just liked doing that had nothing to do with a career, like working at Camp Abnaki or at Electrical Connections. I'd also start a retirement fund pretty quick and I'd learn how to whistle. I'd practice the guitar a lot so I could play in a band (by the way, one of my dreams came true this weekend when I got to play my guitar with a polka band at our big cancer benefit--it was just simple chords and the accordian player would call them out to me as we played. I wish I could bronze the moment--it was so awesome for me!). I'd learn how to sew and cook and weld better. I think I'd become an electrical journeyman and I'd plant a ton of trees and asparagus. I'd read War and Peace and Crime and Punishment. I'd run a marathon, even if it took me a week. I think it would be pretty cool to be a secret agent and catch Nick as he was infiltrating all those governments, and then I'd be famous and I'd run for president and win and I'd write my own speeches. If I aged really well and people couldn't tell that I was 800 years old, I'd go in for community theater. I'd aerate my lawn and I'd live in other places like Crete. I'd take a lot of pictures with film and learn how to develop them and I'd learn to play lacross. I'd also learn whether or not there is an e at the end of lacross...e. I'd climb mountains and learn to kayak and I think I'd try to find other people who were sticking around for a thousand years and see what they were up to. Especially Warren. I'd stop in every century and have some toast or a game of chess with him. Way at the beginning I'd hire Nick as my finacial consultant and I'd go read in the yard with Jenny for a few hundred years. I'd take a look at Randy's table and every year for christmas I'd send Alison a can of salmon.
You guys are hilarious. I just watched a funny movie where people were paid lots of money to make me laugh, but reading over these comments made me laugh a lot more. Therefore, you should all logically be earning a lot of money.
Questions like this always make me feel guilty: if I had that much time, I wonder if I would end up any closer to God than I will in my own limited life span. I'm not sure I would. I know this isn't a funny comment, but it's been nagging at me the past few days. If I didn't have to worry about anything else, would I really devote everything to God? I'd like to think I would or could ... but even with that I'm not sure what that means exactly--can't that include some good reading, travelling, and possibly tour guiding? Hmmm.
Steve Robinson in class read 2 Nephi 2:21 "And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men. For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents."
Then he read Matthew 24:22 "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened."
He said that originally the lifespans were long so people could repent, then they were shortened so people could be saved.
And so Jenny, are you a pre or post Noah (antedeluvian or postdeluvian) type person? That could help decide if you would become closer to God or not.
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