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Written by McClatchy -Tribune
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Wednesday, 02 August 2006 |
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MINNEAPOLIS — Let’s say you are going to die. Soon.
Now what? How would you spend your last days? Where would you go? What would you eat?
You could make a list. Or you could go to the bookstore, where titles that include “Before You Die” are spreading on the racks. You could also turn to thousands of Web sites where people make exhaustive lists of life’s end goals, both profound (accept Jesus) and frivolous (download all “The O.C.” episodes, pass gas in public).
It’s a social-psychological parlor game being played out in the minds of people.
Among the books are this year’s “Unforgettable Journeys to Take Before You Die” by Steve Watkins and Clare Jones, who also wrote “Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die” (not to be confused with “Unforgettable Things to Do Before You Die” by Watkins or “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” by Patricia Schultz).
Psychologists and publishers say such titles resonate because aging baby boomers are dragging their Type A attitudes into their golden years as they take stock and pad their life experiences.
Watkins says the idea doesn’t resonate only with the “mature.”
The lists “seem to attract attention from a very wide age range, from youngsters who ...don’t want to lose track of their dreams, through the baby boomers who have the money and can ...take those trips of a lifetime, to those who have already retired and now have plenty of time and motivation to cram in as much life experience as they possibly can,” Watkins said. | Only registered users can write comments.
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