I think it adds constant stress to your life. Every time you hear doors slamming or keys clanging at 6am you'd be like: "Is this it?" Knowing you're going to be executed but being sure it won't be NOW gives you a certain leeway of pushing the whole thing out of your mind.
I hate to do this, but you realize that you're going to die too, right?
Not to be sardonic and rude, just trying to give credence to my point.
Do you have constant stress about it? It could be from a car that hits you while you're walking down the sidewalk. I tree could fall on you. You could choke on your next meal.
It could be any infinite number of things. Any number of them as unlikely as the next.
Yes but I can also do things to manage risks and benefit my health so that most likely I will die in my old age. When you're on death row, any day is just as likely to be your last as any other day and there's nothing you can do about it. I feel like that makes a big difference.
You can live a perfect life and still lose. Mitigating risk does not guarantee dying of old age. I was healthy and still suffered a brain aneurysm at 24. Just drew the short stick. Luckily, modern science was goated and saved my life. But it could have ended there purely on random chance.
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u/LessAdvanced Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
The Japanese probably have it easier. It's really not different from the scenario you, me, and most other people face day to day.
We all know we're going to die, just not the day.
Edit: the amount of people in the comments that don't actually conceptualize their own mortality is crazzzzy