A bad life is better than no life at all.
Being able to experience life is something most people take for granted. If you were to secretly observe me for a day (and I mean any day of the week) you would see me staring into the distance for at least a minute. The thought that enters my mind every day is this amazement that I’m alive. In most cases, no matter how bad life is, the ability to actually experience it at all should be worth more than not experiencing anything at all.
No matter how hard I try and trust me I’ve tried, I cannot think about there being anything. I can not fathom not experiencing life because at this moment I am experiencing life. It’s like thinking about what humans will achieve 1 million years from now when the people living 200 years ago would think a mobile phone is something made by the Phods (phone Gods). You should try it sometime and see if you can do it. Try to imagine not being here. If you just let your mind drift off you’ll come across some amazing thoughts.
One of my thoughts, while I was drifting off, was that with or without my life, your life would just go on for you. We rarely think about all the billions of people that have died before us. Their non-existence doesn’t bother us in the slightest. Just like my non-existence would probably not change your life in any way shape or form. I only affect the people directly surrounding me, to the rest I’m as relevant as an ant. Maybe a far away butterfly effect would in some way affect your life but the immediate effect to me not being here would be close to nothing.
Another thought that came after this initial thought was that some of us are just here to make other people great and that in itself is greatness. When 1 person changes history and we cheer on the right person, we are all making history. Supporting Elon Musk will have a totally different ripple effect than supporting another Hitler. So don’t think you’re not making a difference in the world. If every voice was equal no voice would be equal. To make progress would mean that we have to support certain ideas from some people and not all ideas from everyone.
However, I do wonder to what extent a bad life is better than no life at all. I’ve never been tortured or had any cruel thing happen to me. I’ve never experienced losing everyone I love in a plane crash, natural disaster or drone strike. In those cases, I wonder if a bad life really is better than no life at all?
What do you think?
