What Life Would You Choose If....
 

......you could only choose your gender and the location and year of your birth, and you could not choose your existing life?

I expect no one will choose to be female, which is a separate discussion of its own.

Tahiti in the 1920s might be a good option.

America during or shortly before WW2 would mean I would be too young to get killed in the war, but then enjoy the prosperity explosion afterwards. Surfing in Malibu, for example. I imagine some here will report that was indeed a special time to be a young person.

Homestead Act and land rushes of the late 19th century. Wild West. Hard work but also freedom, clean air and water.

Elk hunting. ;)

I would choose a period in our history where the internet did not exist so one could have this conversation with a real person in some kind of human community...and not the fake community that exists 'online'.

I grew up in the 50s and 60s, so been there, done that. No way would I want to go back further and live without antibiotics, and vaccines for polio or smallpox, and just as important, central air conditioning and heating. Clean running water and indoor toilets.

I think we are at a pinnacle of living standards. I worked hard my entire life, and have no debt, and have saving and income to keep me comfortable.

Building a homestead on the frontier from sod and living with no electricity or indoor plumbing, or plumbing at all and having to burn buffalo dung for heat has no appeal to me. Being a mountain man, or a gold miner is even less appealing.

I worry about the future of America and the vanishing freedoms.

Coming right up if we ignore the writing on the wall.

This is something I have posted about before and have probably thought about more than I should. Hoping time travel is a thing in the next 100 years though sooner than later.

To turn 13-14 in 1960 in southern California would be an amazing life given my white male DNA. To be a part of real car culture and weekend racing in 60s SoCal would be the best life I could imagine.

Maybe 15 years ago I happened upon Howard's Burgers in LA. It's not so much they were good burgers, it was for maybe 30 minutes stepping back in time. It was magic.

If I didn't have the car addiction I would find cheap flights to LA now and again and go for burger crawls just for a weekend.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1706378414.jpg

And yet you are here.

I was born a white male in the middle of the 20th Century. I hit the trifecta that moment I took my first breath. Since I can't have the exact life again, make it born 1948 - or 1952. Either would be good.

I could not agree more.

I turned 13 in 1970 in Idaho. Missed the perfect time and place by only a little, but enough that it was a whole different life.

I turned 11 in Boise in 1970. I think that's a sweet spot. I have brothers and sisters ranging from 5 years younger to 7 years older; we all did OK.

And I'd do it all over again especially if I were aware of some future truths that could have instructed my actions and channeled my energy and focus a little better.

Good for you! I think you are right, but I also think you are a glass-half-full guy. At one time I wondered if perhaps I was the Luckiest Organism in the History of the Universe. White male, 20th century, American, good family of origin, grew up in north Idaho with mountains and a river nearby, etc. Enough prosperity to be successful and safe, but not so much that I got to sidestep the ordinary problems of life. Which, I think, are blessings. Plus....tall. muscular, athletic, dangerously handsome, frighteningly intelligent, etc.

Exactly how and where I grew up. When Grady Clay visited SoCal I escorted him for 3 days. One night we went to Bob's Big Boy in Burbank where they still cruise. It was a step back in time and he soaked it up right down to the sunset behind the palm trees.

He got that one off his bucket list.

I would pick a time in the future. In the next millennia advances in medicine and technology will make our era look like the stone age.

I wouldn't change a thing . I am very happy what I am and my life in general .

100 years ago males had twice the testosterone, air was clean outside the coal burning cities, and every food available was 'additive free'.
I can't imagine what a good steak tasted like back then.

OTOH oranges were a luxury item, no dental anesthetic, and the average life expectancy was 45yo.

I think I'd prefer (if I had to choose a time in the past) to be born at the right time to volunteer for the Lewis & Clark expidition.

If I could be born in the Star Trek Federation era, certainly. It is sad that the vast majority of Science Fiction of today is the dystopian bleak future.

I hope mankind can get to the Star Trek future of no hunger, no need for money, and working at jobs only to have something to do.

"Yes, I am a pirate, born 200 years too late..." -Jimmy Buffett

That sounds awesome Zeke.

Grady came up to FC a long time ago and we hung out in the garage with a group of folks from PP and talked Porsches. That was a great afternoon.

I rather go back in time and be able to come back to my air conditioned house, with heat in winter (we don't really need it here in socal) and I like modern medical technology. Growing up in the 80s socal was a lot of fun. Not sure if I really want to go back.

The nonfiction book Undaunted Courage changed my mind about that.

That can be your reality today, you just have to do it. Log off, put away the phone and go talk to people. I'm actively trying to do more of this myself and I will say, for me at least, it's a nice refresher. I'm thinking of the internet as more of a tool these days - use when needed to gather info etc., but don't use as a place to just kill time. Try to forget it's there. I'll come here to briefly browse, but usually in 30 minutes I'm done, and I may not be back for days.