Would You Want to Know When or How Your Death is Coming?

Several days ago, my literary arts class watched the film Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell. In the movie, Harold Crick learns that he is a main character of a novel, and the narrator (Emma Thompson) informs him that he will die. The author does not know she is writing a novel that is taking place in reality, but she believes her main character to not know of his death.

After finishing the production, I thought about the concept of death. I felt as if it would be painful to know that I will die soon. I am in my teenage years, and my life hasn't been lived yet. I have many of things to accomplish. My life right now is basically school and wasting the rest of it at home, and those are not the terms I want to die on. I want to be able to say that my life was well fulfilled. Like Harold Crick, I live a monotonous lifestyle. Not as boring as his, but you get the point.

I would rather know when my death is coming. That deadline will push me to be more motivated about life, trying to make the best of it while it lasts. Mankind acts like we have forever to live, when in reality we only have a few years. I have already spent 15 years of my life, and those years have been fairly decent, but I would like my life to have more meaning, more purpose.

Knowing how I am going to die is pointless information. It will only make me live my life in fear of the thing that is going to ultimately kill me. If I knew I was going to die by drowning in the ocean, then I would avoid the ocean at all costs. Therefore, it would take away from my life experience because beaches are awesome. I don't want to miss out on a great day at the beach, admiring mother nature's beauty and all.

Overall, this question is neither deep nor complex. However, watching this film motivated me to take pride in life, and not to waste a single minute of it. We all have our bad moments, but if we are motivated, we can turn those bad moments into good ones.