[Darby]

Grounds Keeper Willie, you're my hero! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]
I really hadn't thought beyond my responsibilities to my family, but you've stated how I feel very well. I *would* regret never being able to see ME, but only in the sense that I've always wondered what it looks like and maybe other people will see it and I won't. So, I can't really say a choice like this would make me feel particularly warm inside. More like an anguished, "But I can't!"
But you are sooo right about all the wonder and adventure right here in THIS world. I love living, and I hope I get to live a very long time so I can see as big a part of the story as I possibly can. When my great grandmother was born, there were no cars in our driveways. When I was born there were no computers in our homes. What will our lives look like when I'm 60? When I'm 100? What kind of cool new toys will there be? What kind of history will we make? What tragedies, what triumphs, what wonders?
Hmm... If I had to go to ME permanently, I'd miss all that. And then I'd regret THAT choice. For me, I don't think there IS a choice without any regret, but I'd get over it pretty quick if I stayed in this world. All I'd have to do is think about my mother (who would NOT be happy in ME away from her books and her students), and my children, and my in-laws, and all the people who would miss us terribly because we couldn't possibly take them with us.
My dd is scheduled to have a few surgeries over the next few years. It's not a life-threatening condition, but it's something we could not treat in ME. Would it be fair to her, to uproot her and deny her that medical treatment? What about the fact that she'll need new glasses this fall?
Yep, you're right. Thanks for reminding me! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Edit - something rather horrible just occurred to me as I was thinking further on GKW's post. Usually the only way you can leave THIS Earth permanently is by dying. What if the doors aren't actually doors between this world and ME, but doors between Life and Death? What happens after death? Is it any stretch to think you might continue your existance in a place like ME, when the major world religions seriously believe in things like Heaven and Reincarnation and Transmigration of the Soul and whatnot?
In which case, it's rather appalling to think of taking anyone with you, and completely awful to think of leaving them behind.
You may *think* you're in a mysterious place with two doors in front of you, but in actual fact you're in a hospital bed somewhere because you and most of your loved ones were caught in a gas line explosion, and now it's up to YOU whether they live and die.
Eeek! [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img]

[ June 30, 2003: Message edited by: Darby ]