What I Would Do if I had 1 Year to Live

(Note; although I'm making light of the situation in this article, I understand that for some people this horrible situation is a reality. This post is not meant to gloss over that fact in any way, and my thoughts go out to those of you who do have to go through this.)

I'm still a young, healthy guy. At fourteen years old, I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that I'll still be around 90 years from now. This seems rather far-fetched, I realize, but given advancing medical technology and a history of long lifespans in my family, it seems more and more likely that I'll make it past 100. In fact, I plan to go further, and live to 108; my great-grandmother fell shy of that mark by a month, and I'm detemined to beat her. 

But what if that future was taken away from me, and I learned that I wouldn't get to see my 16'th birthday? Naturally, my world would be shattered. But I wouldn't let it go to waste.

The first thing I'd do would be ditch my family and friends, lock myself in a room, and wrote a book about my experiences. I'm publishing a book if it's the last thing I do, damn it. With any luck, this would instantly become a bestseller, which would allow me to fund my tour.

Tour? What tour, you ask? Well, I'm going on a nation-wide tour, spreading my tragic story to youth such as myself. I'm going to die, and what an amazing person the world would be losing in me ;). What can I do to the world to make up for the loss of me? I can drill into every kids head that if I won't get a chance to change the world, then they sure as heck better do it for me. I'll make them feel really guilty if they don't do something awesome for the world, so that if they're ever lying on their death beds with a bazillion regrets in life, they can look back and think "that dying kid told me to do something with my life. I sort of messed up on that one, didn't I?"

I'd be a motivational speaker who made everyone feel guilty. I'd try to do some good in my final moments.

Finally, I'd call NASA up, and tell them that my last request was to go to space. I'd guilt them into flying me up. And then I'd wave a final goodbye to my family, and soar up into the stars...

Then a few weeks later, I'd say my final words in space. I've always wanted my final words to be worth remembering, something that future generations can look back on and instantly tell from them that they'd have liked the guy or gal who said them. The best thing? I'd know the exact date I'd kick the bucket, so I could prepare some great last words that actually would make it to the history books. My famous last words of "I don't know what to say!" would go down in history as the best last words of all time. Except for maybe "They couldn't shoot an elephant from he-!" (said some general just before he was fatally shot).

Thanks for reading, 

-Mark.