24 Interviews in 24 Hours: If You Had 24 hours Left to Live?

[nat sound: clock]

Twenty-four hours can be a lot of time. 

Each day about seventeen-million people celebrate their birthdays, twenty-seven-thousand people get married and you blink more than nine-thousand times. You would have enough time to drive from Times Square to Mount Rushmore. And you could watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy…the extended version….twice….and have time to take a nap in between. You could even make a WNUR News Special Broadcast…

But why does it always feel like there isn’t enough time in the day? Why do people often yearn for another hour of sleep?  Or more time to do the things they love? 

What would people do if they were given just twenty-four more hours to live? We took twenty-four hours to ask twenty-four different people that question. 

Most said they would be with family and friends. 

Lilia: “I would fly back to China to see my parents.”

Joshua Hershey: “I would probably spend some of it with friends and some of it with my sister in Ohio.”

Megan Burrill: “Probably spend most of the time talking with friends and family.”

First-year Jacky Maya said she would want to see the loved ones she hasn’t seen for quite a while. 

Jacky Maya: “I would probably first go to Texas and visit my family and then go to Mexico to visit some family members I haven’t seen in a while.”

Sophomore Sofia Vujevich echoed that sentiment but made sure to include her dog. 

Sofia Vujevich: “I would honestly spend it with my family and my dogs, just because I haven’t seen them in a while.”

Another popular answer centered around getting to eat good food. School of Com first-years Patricia Liu and Mary Rose Kavanaugh had specific cravings while others, said they just wanted to eat something nice. 

Patricia Liu: “I would really quickly try to get back to my family in California. I would like, see my boyfriend as well. I would go to the highest rated hot pot restaurant in the area and just feast. I would feast. uhhhh…See if I could skydive one more time. It’s like the one thing on my bucket list that I want to do and then hope that the new season of You comes out so I can watch that as well.”

Mary Rose Kavanaugh: “I think I’d be outside, probably by the water and I’d find a good restaurant that had good steak to eat too.” 

Hailee Kim: “I would just quit my job because I am currently working and I would just go to the fanciest restaurant in Chicago and eat dinner with my friends and then call my parents and then die.”

Frank Bailey: “I’d probably call my family and let them know what’s up and probably have them come to me, not vice versa……I wouldn’t do anything crazy, Id probably hang out with friends, have a nice a meal because I feel like they’d let me into a nice restaurant if I told them what’s up…I’d pay and all that. Other than food with friends and family I don’t think I’d do much other like consumption or crazy experiences.”

Phoebe Chen: “I would hang out with my friends and family. Eat good food. Spend a lot of money.”

While the answers to where they would spend their final hours varied, there were a few people who just wanted to relax. Kai O’Neill said he would relax at home but Brody Bundis said he wanted to go to Greenland.

Kai O’Neill: “I don’t know…just whatever would be most relaxing.”

Brody Bundis: “Probably travel to a place I’ve always wanted to go…probably a really pretty location and relax for a day. Text everyone I love.”

Bundis was not the only one who would spend his time elsewhere. Riley Harrision would want to go out on a high note.

Riley Harrison: “oh gosh…See I’d want to travel somewhere but I know that traveling would take part of that time. I would probably throw a crazy party with my friends….go out with a bang.     

Josephine Mascarenhas: Go on a hike…do some kayaking…spend time with family and friends.”

That was Bienen sophomore Josephine Mascarenhas. She would want to spend her final day in the mountains of Colorado. She wasn’t the only one who would seek time outdoors in nature. Lucas Krtiz would spend it outdoors with loved ones.

Lucas Kritz: “I would also spend it with my family definitely…like just cause their the people I’m closest to and my close friends…I’d prefer it to be outdoors in nature just so I could appreciate the Earth…I don’t know what happens after you die but like you probably aren’t on the Earth so I’d like to appreciate its beauty and at the end.”

Alex Safayan: “Oh my…we were just talking about this….well we were talking about the end of it…..I would hang out with…I would spend time with my girlfriend and spend all my money and travel….actually traveling takes a lot of time. I think I would spend time with my girlfriend and my family like right now. I would take the shortest flight to go see them…then at the end of it I would jump off of Half Dome.”

Kritz and his friend…Alex Safayan…had been discussing their final twenty-four hours before we asked them the question. They both mentioned Half Dome, a rock formation in Yosemite national park. 

Leah Freeman and Seth Carlson would also try something new. 

Leah Freeman: “I think probably spending it with friends and family and then…maybe going sky jumping…or skydiving or something.”

Seth Carlson: “I would probably just spend it with family and people I’m very close to and like maybe come up with something in the what of the moment that I’ve never done before that’s easy to do that I can just like do it because I came up with some excuse not to do it before. Family, prayer and maybe doing something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Henry Guo would also do something he has never done before…something hopefully no one listening to this story has ever done before…

Henry Guo: “I would commit a crime or something…something simple like try to rob something…not something super dangerous just something fun to see if I can actually pull it off.”

While illegal activities are not recommended…they might add a little bit…or a lot …of excitement to a day. For two people we interviewed, they initially mentioned wanting to travel but in the end they chose more easygoing answers. 

Daniel Min: “Panic…*chuckles* I’ll tell my parents: ‘24 hours to live.’ I would fly back within…actually I wouldn’t fly back, flying back takes 12 hours…I’ll walk all over Evanston and Chicago.”

Andrew Baidoo: “I would probably spend the day traveling, go to the place I want to go to but the places I want to go to are 24 hours away so I would probably just go back to spend time with friends and family.”

For Jeremy Hwang and Baenan McKeown their last twenty-fours would be spent doing things a little more low key. They would continue to do the things most important to them: music and faith.

Jeremy Hwang: “I don’t know…probably play lots of music, sing songs with my friends. Lots of prayer. Call family. That’s about it…not too grand.”

Baenan McKeown: “That’s hard…I would probably…well obviously it depends on the conditions of why I have only have twenty four hour….probably spend a lot of time in prayer…I think that’s what I would do.” 

The definition of a day well spent varies a lot from person to person. The twenty-fourth and final person we asked had an answer that was pretty different from everyone else. He didn’t have anywhere he wanted to go or anything specific he wanted to do.

Daniel Sofer would just keep living. 

Daniel Sofer: “I don’t think I’d change my life to be honest.”

And it’s just as simple as that. For WNUR News…I’m Ella Smith….with Rachel Spears.