we must risk delight

Would you have one of your fingers removed surgically if it somehow guaranteed you immunity from all major diseases?     sure, I've got a spare pinkie

 

Someone close to you will die in a few months unless you donate one of your kidneys to them. If you knew that your chances of surviving the operation were excellent and that your life expectancy wouldn't be appreciably reduced, would you give up the organ?     yes

    What if the operation were risky?     that wouldn't change anything

    What if you could refuse without anyone knowing?     likewise, it wouldn't change my decision

    ...or if the person with the failing kidney didn't want you to make the sacrifice?     that would depend on my relationship with them. If it was simply the matter of them wanting it done but not wanting me to be hurt - I would do it anyway. If they specifically didn't want my kidney, well...that would mean that the relationship wasn't the sort for which one makes sacrifices.

 

If you were given $1 million to donate anonymously to a stranger or cause of your choice, how would you dispose of it?     in that situation I would essentially be an ATM, and that's never been a goal. If I couldn't give it to someone I cared about, then I wouldn't want a part in it.

 

Would you take a pill that, without side effects, made you feel utterly fulfilled for a year—glad just to be you, doing whatever you already do? Would you choose differently if you knew the effect would be permanent?     as long as the effect was "glad" and not "unmotivated and weird", Hell yeah, bring it on. I do not think I'd change my mind if I knew it would last forever.    

 

Would you rather have success and everything material you want, but few friends; or little success or material well-being, but lots of friends?     I would prefer to have a small number of good friends and merely sufficient well-being. I don't need too much of any of it.

 

Would you accept an inflation-adjusted lifetime stipend of $150,000 per year if it meant you couldn't earn or inherit additional money? What would be the lowest such stipend you'd agree to?     that's very easy: $150,000 would do me fine. I could get by on much less, but that particular amount would absolutely satisfy my wishes. Make it so!

 

[from The Book of Questions; the title quotation is by Jack Gilbert, from Refusing Heaven]