Just Me Thinking #3

The Final Outcome
(Random observation about Life, Looking back, and Choices)

Doctor Who Quote to start:
“In the end you just get tired; tired of the struggle… eventually the only certainty left is that you will end up alone.”
“That’s a price worth paying”
“Is it?”

I wonder if people who live really long lives… In The Doctor’s case its been over 1000 years of trying and struggling to survive. Often times he is the last one left standing, he has lost so much gave so much and in the end he is still alone.

Is there such a thing as living too long? I wonder if The Doctor ever looks back at how hard he has faught, or how far he has run, and thought to himself “I am so tired, I have traveled for so long and gone so far….” And then I wonder if he wished for the running to end.

But I suppose after so long of constantly fighting for survival, if he no longer could just ‘give up’. It must be ingrained in his mind and body to FIGHT or RUN for his life. To just get out ALIVE. And I doubt someone like that could ever give up willingly.

So then how long ago would have been a good time to Quit trying? Is there a good time to just walk into hell and accept defeat? Could someone like The Doctor, even when he was younger, just accept defeat, when the itch for survival wasn’t yet a reflex reaction? Could someone like that just throw in the towel?

Because once someone survives and get out, they then want to KEEP living. And stopping the marathon run does not usually come to mind when you just passed the next mile marker. A stopping point does not seem necessary, even when this type of marathon has an unforeseen end. It’s not neatly graphed out for us to see exactly when and where the next battles will rage and the losses mount.

But then one day death is staring you in the face, and it’s the face of YOU in the mirror. You are looking at yourself, the old, aged, weary warrior standing there, waiting for their last breath to fade from their lungs.

So then, How long, is TOO long. How does anyone ever know when it’s a good time to stop until its too late, miles and years have passed you by, and the moment to fold and cash in the chips has long since gone. And there you sit, still playing your cards, but youre no longer so hot on top of your game, and you don’t have a penny to your name. your luck is running out and so are your chips. The only thing left to do is see it to the end. Keep on playing. And hope to get out easy. But the game is no longer fun, and there is not much to gain either. The pot is not very full, and the only one left playing is the dealer of fate. All the bets have been made, all the cards are on the table, and it’s too late to fold.

Of course there’s not much else you could do in that senario, you made it farther than everyone else. And isn’t that what people have always shot for, quantity, not quality? Funny isn’t it? How once you get everything you ever wanted, you find yourself missing the little things, the time you had when you had very little. But then there was little else you could do. The choices were clearly marked. Die young, when you have so much life left in you, or fight to live another day, at whatever the cost. I know what I would pick. I would pick to fight. But I guess then that’s just human nature. The fight to SURVIVE.

So then, even if  you could go back. I doubt one would act any differently. Because at that point you are not tired. You still have that drive to keep playing the game. Keep raking in the dough. You have no knowledge of just how unfortunate you could end up. There’s just no way, to ever know. The final. Outcome.

So we keep living. We keep fighting. Even when we know Death is our eventual fate. And like the insightful words of Mycroft Holmes says: All lives end. All hearts are broken. Caring is not an Advantage, Sherlock.”

We care so much. So much…
And in the end, what do we get?
The same thing as everyone else.
Death.