Last year I read a book called The Measure that has stayed on my mind. While not a perfect novel, it does exactly what speculative fiction is meant to — challenge your understanding of yourself and the world, and give you a ‘what if’ to stretch your thinking.
In The Measure, everyone in the world mysteriously receives boxes containing lengths of string, which they will soon figure out is a measurement of exactly how long they will live. At first a curiosity, it quickly goes sideways. Families and partners take different stances on knowing or not, people upend their lives based on what they learn, countries and companies discriminate against ‘short-stringers’. Some countries require opening the boxes, others require citizens to surrender them, unopened. Global unrest ensues and a civil rights struggle is born.
The question of whether you’d want to know your death date has been raised in many works of fiction, and it always surprises me how many people don’t want to know. Every single part of me wants to know, zero reservations! I’m a planner, that’s just how I’m wired. And that’s never been more true than in this stage of life, with a ways to go before retirement but the pressure to prepare is on.
If I knew for sure I had less than 10 years to live, it would change everything! I’d immediately hop off the career treadmill and spend every dime living large and traveling in ways that wouldn’t be prudent if I had a long future to pay for. If I still had a burning desire to work, I’d do it pro bono for pet causes.
But if I am going to live for 40+ more years — not a stretch looking at my dad’s side of the family — that would require drastic action, despite already living a modest life. It would mean working longer and harder, finding ways to live a smaller life, or even relocating away from my people where it’s cheaper. That’s not what good living looks like to me, yet aging in poverty isn’t either.
Right now I’m planning for a middle scenario, balancing my needs with what’s realistic. Anything significantly shorter or longer would radically change the plan, so yeah, I’d want to know!