i sometimes imagine that i am the pilot of an aircraft and behind me are the passengers, chatting away and merrily going about their daily routines. some are happy, some are sad and some are away with their faries in their own little world.

but i am sorry to reveal that there is a problem!

this aircraft has nowhere to land, we are running out of fuel, our end is inevitable i'm afraid, and i have no idea when we are going to drop like a stone from the sky. we are going to plummet to the ground and be smashed into 1000 tiny pieces.

that will be the end of us all of course. our meaningless chatter will end, our loved ones will be left behind and our existance will cease. (probably!)

so i have this dilemma you see, one that i want to share with you.

it's this... "do i tell them?"

do i make them aware of how meaningless some of their idle chatter is. or is their ignorance 'really' bliss?

do i tell them of their fate? will it be helpful for them to know?

I have a curious nature you see, and maybe a little of the devil in me. and my curious nature wants me to tell them

i want to watch their reaction.

will some be happy? will some be sad at our impending doom?

will some have unfulfilled wishes, hopes and dreams? i bet!

but do i tell them? do i?

DO I????

No.

Short, decisive and to the point, Sue but what is the basis for your answer?

Andy

I suppose i was answering from the view of DO I rather than telling Martin what to do Andy. I see Martins analogy of a pilot as the one in control the one with the view the knowledge and the plane being this life that we are all aboard, flying going, coming, going round again!!! The passengers are all of us humans going about the daileys....

The reason I say no is that as pilot Im assuming all of the above and really Im just a passenger also of a much bigger plane one that is actually out of my sights so I to have no idea of the view or the future and I to am not fully in command so therefor I am in my perception and in fact the plane is not really going down just in my perception each passenger is the pilot of THEIR own plane.

Your first answer was so blunt Sue that it shocked me somewhat. So thanks to Andy for rescuing that situation.

And you are right Sue, I was thinking about life in general and my own perceptions. You have provided me with a good answer too by explaining that the pilot (me) is also a passenger and (possibly) not really able to see further than any other passenger.

After writing this I thought to myself, what benefit would there be to the passengers or the pilot if he chose to explain the dilemma?

My 'hope' was that if the passengers knew of their fate they might stop and think about what really matters to them. My cyincal mind tells me that it might not make much difference at all!

Horse to water no drinky

ooh this is interesting (and curious in a self help section!)

I think when someone has a terminal illness, they very often emotionally prepare for it at some level, make plans for loved ones, do the things they never got to do, rethink values etc. but telling someone they are about to snuff it in a few moments would probably just cause widespread panic.

Now if I was the pilot, I would be too busy climbing out of the window with my parachute to worry about letting them know

Haha.. that's cheating Kirsty!