A Thank you Note from Someone who is Going to Die
- Thread starter notgeorge
- Start date
Well I've voted, so I'll post. But that's still going to leave the books unbalanced. Ah well, that's life.
Nice letter notgeorge. I think you've echoed the thoughts of many fans of Discworld.
Just for the record, I voted against dying. As a musician I hope the transition between composing and de-composing goes un-noticed... especially by me.
Nice letter notgeorge. I think you've echoed the thoughts of many fans of Discworld.
Just for the record, I voted against dying. As a musician I hope the transition between composing and de-composing goes un-noticed... especially by me.
Tonyblack said:
That's defeatist talk! 
And one could take it as: "because someday it'll end, enjoy your life, do the things you want to do, live the moment! It'll happen one day so don't worry about it. It's natural."
But probably I can only speak like this because I'm 16. My whole life's still in front of me and if I'm honest, that thought's incredibly exciting!
Notgeorge.... I was raised in a family of 12 kids by a father who survived the Fall of Singapore when everyone he knew died in one bomb blast. He had an amazing view of what a precious gift life was. When I was 9 we were told he "was dying" and wouldn't live more than 5 years if he was lucky. He spent most of his time in bed (he hated it but they had no other medicines other than "rest" back then) A man of non-religious leanings and a lover of all things scientific (my mother was a devout Catholic.. what an upbringing that was) On his 70th birthday he came out of his bedroom into the kitchen humphing and fanning about, sat down at the table and drank his tea. "Well!" he said. "Can't even trust a bloody doctor anymore! I'm still alive and I don't feel the slightest urge to drop dead anytime soon. Mary! Drop in at the newsagent and get a yearly subscription for the newspaper this afternoon! I have been shafted paying 10 cents extra for every bloody copy all this time!" He died another five times before he died properly almost nine years after that. When they used to come out and "break the terrible news" to Mum that Dad has died in the operating theatre she seemed amazingly calm after the third time and said... "Oh well, I will just sit here a while if you don't mind; you never can be sure can you... have you got his watch? He gets quite upset when he wakes up and he doesn't know where his watch is..."
Mum was much the same... she had "hours to live" and the doctors prescribed a drug that "taken for extended years would require painful tests to monitor liver function" (they had to tell her this side effect to get permission for the drug to be administered... but in truth it was to make the final hours more bearable) Her response?.... "Oh dear GOD! You all treat me like a pincushion! NOW I have THAT to look forward to as well? Well go ahead then but don't expect me to smile at you when you do it!" They smiled at her that way they tend to do to "elderly old ladies who aren't long for this world and who don't really understand they are in fact dying... lets none of her upset her and tell her the truth". Three years later she was still complaining bitterly at them when she had yet another test. During those three years she cemented her relationship with my oldest and played with my newest child who never knew Nanna without tubes and "life support". Lifes not about the dying... its about the living of it while its there.
Besides.... when you DO die... you finally get to meet a TP character but then I have always had a soft spot for TP's DEATH.
Mum was much the same... she had "hours to live" and the doctors prescribed a drug that "taken for extended years would require painful tests to monitor liver function" (they had to tell her this side effect to get permission for the drug to be administered... but in truth it was to make the final hours more bearable) Her response?.... "Oh dear GOD! You all treat me like a pincushion! NOW I have THAT to look forward to as well? Well go ahead then but don't expect me to smile at you when you do it!" They smiled at her that way they tend to do to "elderly old ladies who aren't long for this world and who don't really understand they are in fact dying... lets none of her upset her and tell her the truth". Three years later she was still complaining bitterly at them when she had yet another test. During those three years she cemented her relationship with my oldest and played with my newest child who never knew Nanna without tubes and "life support". Lifes not about the dying... its about the living of it while its there.
Besides.... when you DO die... you finally get to meet a TP character
but then I have always had a soft spot for TP's DEATH.
And:
Thank YOU notgeorge. For writing the "crazy fan letter" WE have all wanted to write to Terry.... but haven't because as Miss Teatime says, WE don't want to appear to be the crazy stalker fan type. See? There IS an upside to dying... you get to write a letter like that!
Nooooo I'm not a heartless person... I'm just saying what you all wanted to say... true? I don't know... I spent my entire youth and early adult life with "dying" parents who had absolutely NO respect for their "dying" statis, and who in fact were thoroughly disgusted they were taking so damn long to die when they suddenly twice lost two very young and wonderful boys while they lingered on.
Thank YOU notgeorge. For writing the "crazy fan letter" WE have all wanted to write to Terry.... but haven't because as Miss Teatime says, WE don't want to appear to be the crazy stalker fan type. See? There IS an upside to dying...
you get to write a letter like that! Nooooo I'm not a heartless person... I'm just saying what you all wanted to say... true? I don't know... I spent my entire youth and early adult life with "dying" parents who had absolutely NO respect for their "dying" statis, and who in fact were thoroughly disgusted they were taking so damn long to die when they suddenly twice lost two very young and wonderful boys while they lingered on.
