We Are Born to Avoid Death


Todd May is extrinsic with her death ideology; He essentially mentions how we go through life ignoring the fact we are mortal therefore leaving us to act carelessly or reckless at points. I will use texting and driving as an example to explain what he means; when you witness a car crash you think to yourself “that won’t happen to me, not like that” while having a phone in your hand. This is proof that we believe consciously that we can’t and won’t die. That is not entirely true because we have a subconscious thought that keeps us safe for the very reason to extend our life span. It may sometimes appear as an obvious thought when we find something dangerous or scary because we realize our life could be in danger for example; riding roller coasters, bungee-jumping or sky diving, even swimming can lead us to realize we could be in danger and bring fear to us. But in small instances in which you subconsciously act in a way that will get you out of harms way such as stepping over a pothole or not crossing the street at the wrong time and looking both ways before you cross puts you out of harm’s way and essentially keeps you safe from death or damage that could be lethal. Most of us act in a way and make decisions based on our safety and well-being, although everyone does not act the same for the most part, we all seek to stay safe and live another day. It is in our nature to want to stay safe and away from danger, even if we aren’t actively thinking about it we are already programmed this way since birth.

Comments

  1. Madison DunbarApril 17, 2019 at 8:47 AM

    Texting and driving is a great example when ignoring death. We are all told not to do because of the consequences that could result from it, but we all do it anyways. Why purposely do something knowing the deathly consequences? Since death creeps closer every day, it's hard to make a decision that will positively affect us. We make decisions everyday that we don't think to much about because of the thought that we have so much time. We shouldn't ignore death because we never know when it will happen.

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  2. Hannah PilatApril 17, 2019 at 9:49 AM

    I agree that we can understand that we are mortal and yet act as if we are not. Texting and driving is a perfect example. We can be drilled that texting and driving is wrong and incredibly dangerous.Yet some people continue to look at their phone while driving. Passing a car accident, we do assume it happened due to drunk driving or texting while driving. Another example I can think of includes the danger of walking alone at night. We hear so many stories about the dangers of walking alone at night, yet some still do it since we carry a “it won't happen to me” mentality.

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  3. GideonApril 26, 2019 at 1:33 PM

    It's rather unfortunate we live like this but it is exactly how we are wired as humans. We act and make irresponsible choices but there's our subconscious always there to help us overcome these. We are safe mostly because our mind and body recognizes danger. We do ignore death on a daily basis and i feel like its a good thing because if we go on thinking about everything in relation to death, we really won't be living. I agree with your take and your example of texting and driving.

    -Gideon

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