Would knowing change how you live?
"The measure of your life lies herein"
One of my friends told me I should read The Measure by Nikki Erlick because it was, "A really good book that would make me think." At the time I thought, "Well, maybe." But the summaries I read made me think the book might be a bit gimmicky. After all, the premise was that one day every single person in the world over the age of 22 received a wooden box. Inside the box was a string wrapped in silver paper. Each person's string was a different length.
It turns out that the length of the string indicates the approximate lifespan of the recipient.
The fact is, the premise was far more interesting - and far less gimmicky - than I expected. The Measure hooked me. First, I asked myself, "Do I want to know how long I will live?"
Then, the novel led me to a series of profound questions that have burrowed into my brain and keep kicking me for answers.
Would I want to know the "measure of my life?"
If you could know - within a few years - when you'd die, would you want to know? That's the first question that comes to mind. In The Measure, some people can't wait to open the box to find out how long their string is and how many years they have left. Others put the box away and have no intention of ever opening it, living their lives as if the boxes had never arrived.
The book weaves together the lives of six main characters. We come to care about these people because we get glimpses into their lives. There's Nina and Maura, a couple who must make difficult choices once they know the length of their strings. There's Amie, Nina's sister, a young teacher passionate about books and teaching. . Ben is an architect attending a support group for short-stringers. Jack and Javier are two guys from completely different backgrounds who meet in a military academy and become best friends. Other characters are mixed in, and each one has a unique story.
Lives intersect. Relationships grow strong. Couples fall apart. People live. People die.
So much more than lifespans...
The Measure was a well-written, fast-paced, interesting story that intrigued me. The novel posed lots of questions beyond the first one of whether you want to know how long you'll live.
It delves into the prejudices and social problems that occur when people are categorized by lifespan.
Imagine this. You apply for a job and the company asks how long your string is. Will they invest time and training in an employee who won't live as long as another applicant?
What happens to dating couples? Will they continue to date even if they know their partner has a much longer string than theirs? If a couple knows that one of them won't live until old age, do they decide to have children?
The implication of knowing lifespans ripples into every segment of society.
Does the government need to know how long your string is? Can it mandate that you report that? Can you throw away your box?
How does the military handle the different lengths of strings for their recruits?
Can you imagine how political ventures are changed when voters know how long a candidate will live?
Which group becomes a scapegoat when horrible events unfold?
The Measure gave me lots of big ideas to think about!
Would knowing how long you will live change the way you live?
Would I keep working if I knew I had a year or two to live? Would I quit and use my minimal savings to travel while I still had time? Would I try to make my life meaningful by working for nonprofits or dedicating myself to volunteer work? Would I forget about making enough money to live on and indulge my passion for writing books and articles?
What would YOU do? Make amends for wrongs you've done in the past? Reignite old love affairs or lost friendships? Would you plan for the end and make a will, establish a foundation, or retreat from the world and find a place to be by yourself?
It's hard to know how you'd react.
As with many good books, The Measure is both complex and simplistic. The world's reactions to the strings are as diverse and tangled as its peoples, but the individual stories are simple, straightforward quests of humans searching for how to live well.
It [The Measure] offers both an intriguing lens through which to view our complicated, often broken society and a heartfelt story about a group of people discovering that they have plenty to live for, no matter how long that life will be.
Here's the truth
We are all going to die, my friends, and few of us know when or how. Even with a diagnosis of a terminal illness, the length of time left to live is indeterminate.
The novel The Measure stimulates thoughts about our mortality, but more importantly, it reminds us that each and every day matters because our time on this earth is limited.
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