Would you go?
By TheRealDawn
@dawnald (85146)
Shingle Springs, California
February 4, 2010 6:46pm CST
I was remembering a story that I had read as a child. It was about a man who was down and out and who got an offer to give up everything he owned (which wasn't much) to go to the planet Verna and start over. So just for fun I did some Googling to see what I could see and I found it in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Missing_Persons I won't tell you how it ends (though the Wikipedia article does).
So, if you didn't have any prospects in life and if you weren't happy with the way things were going here on earth and if you were given a chance to go to a new planet that was peaceful and prosperous, leaving everything behind, would you go (your family can come too)? All you would really have to go on would be pictures and the "travel agent's" description. Or would you not believe it, not trust it?
6 people like this
20 responses
@much2say (55901)
• Los Angeles, California
5 Feb 10
Oh gosh. I've pondered this idea for eons . . . someone beat me to it in writing a book about it? Hee hee. Surely I would have a zillion questions for this travel agent first . . . so I really couldn't answer until I had more information. I'd want to see the planet's official website - ha ha.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
they didn't have websites when the story was published but maybe they've modernized since then...
Interactive displays, hmmm...
@much2say (55901)
• Los Angeles, California
6 Feb 10
If this scenario should happen in modern times, I would think that if we had the technology to be able to survive on another planet and market it, then there should be an official website for the planet. I wouldn't be too sure about just on the travel agent's words or pictures (afterall they can doctor them up with photoshop!) . . . maybe there'd be reviews on the website from people who are already on the "new" planet. I guess it'd also depends on what opportunities would be out there for me (us). I better go read that book to see what happened!!
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
5 Feb 10
maybe.it would really depend on what's on the planet already,and is it sustainable.
i'd sure hate to go to another planet and have the food crop fail.that far from earth,you'd be screwed.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
5 Feb 10
well,in that case..i'm out of here.
i'll take the chance.it'd be nice to have some elbow room.
i'll take the chance.it'd be nice to have some elbow room.1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
Nope, you go or you stay, no second chances. But yes on the ice cream and cookies...
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
5 Feb 10
No I don't think so but iof I could send some people then that would be different. I can think of lots of people that I owuld like to send including corrupt politicians and policemen and other people like that
1 person likes this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
5 Feb 10
Well, they have to go somewhere - preferably where I cannot see them or be a victim of them. Sorry - let me know when I can book their tickets
1 person likes this
@Theresaaiza (10487)
• Australia
5 Feb 10
My grandmother is in the province, down with diabetes, eye problems secondary to the diabetes, and amputated toes. But despite all our assurances to have her treated in the city, and the inconveniences of her own home, she refused it because well there is no place like home.
I guess there really is no place like home.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
So I guess your grandmother would turn Verna down. But I wonder if the people who would actually go would end up being homesick...
@Theresaaiza (10487)
• Australia
7 Feb 10
I believe it depends. As for my grandmother and most of the old folks I know, they would rather die in their homeland than live a convenient life outside it. *shrugs
can't teach old dogs new tricks...and can't kick him out of his doghouse!
@abitcurious (1422)
• Philippines
5 Feb 10
sort of like the swarzhenegger's old film about mars (I don't know why I still remember that one). Can I got to this planet without growing old? Sure, I'd go. I'm dying in this planet anyway. Might as well travel and die somewhere else.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
7 Feb 10
I probably wouldn't trust it either and then I'd be mad at myself for not going...
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
I read the story quite a few times as a child. It was part of a collection in a book that my mom got for one of us. At the time I remember thinking that it was terribly unfair that he didn't get a second chance. It looked like a really nice place.
1 person likes this
@pixeltwistr (613)
• United States
5 Feb 10
I'd GO!!
Definately!
Yep...I'd GO!!!
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
5 Feb 10
I wouldn't do it unless I could return to earth if it wasn't as I had expected. I would want much more than just a description, I would need to have all the fine print and a guarantee. I really don't like change or things with no backup.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
No changing your mind. That was one of the key points of the story!
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
5 Feb 10
im afraid id be a little worried. enough so id probably say no until or unless i could do research. is it the sci-fi story, i wonder, about him finding out they fatten you up to eat i remember a twilight zone show like that way back in the 60's. i'll go see. thru your link.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
NO, these are nice aliens who are sharing part of their planet with some of us because our planet could be DOOMED. Sure you don't want to go?
@thedailyclick (3017)
•
5 Feb 10
Life has taught me that the grass is not always greener on the other side, so I wouldn't go. Although I may not have any prospects and as such not have much to risk, it would still be too much of a risk to go solely on pictures and a travel agents descriptions no matter how trustworthy, or convincing, that person appeared. There's a lot to be said for living by the saying "Better the devil you know".
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
That's very true in the real world. Of course, this is just fiction. I wonder how many people would really take such a thing on faith and if those would really be the people we'd want in charge of our brave new world.
@mkrishna22 (465)
• India
5 Feb 10
i read the link pointed out in your message and to be honest did not really understand it. is it just a story told to make people realise not to miss any chances in life or some thing else.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
Yes, that's exactly it. It's the synopsis of a Science Fiction story...
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
5 Feb 10
Thanks but "No thanks".
I'm happy with my life here. This old world of ours has become very corrupted in more ways than one, but it is home and to a large extent we make of it what we will. I have no desire to be anything other than I am or to be anywhere other than I am. I am content.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
Well darn, I wonder if I will lose my internet connection if I go...
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
5 Feb 10
hi dawnald I would want to change it to someplace right here on good old planet earth and take my son, and get him a job, and he and I rent a great apartment and live again like ordinary American people but in some other state where rents and cost of living are not horribly high,if the Gods smiled on me and said hatley you can go to z state and begin all over again and we will even help you i would be out of here so fast.lol. just a dream but fun.Space travel scares me right now. stay here on solid earth.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
Oh, but it's not space travel at all. It's instantaneous! But I hope your son finds something too so that the two of you can be together again!
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
5 Feb 10
Hi Dawnald,
The world is such that I would not believe it, well just look at how the commercial for vatications on tv? when you actual go there the hotels and resorts are not the same as in the pictures.
Tamara
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
Ah well, they don't want non-believers anyway.
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
5 Feb 10
My initial reaction was to say yes I would go providing the family and the pets could come but after thinking about it for a bit I decided that sometimes it’s ‘better the devil you know than the devil you don’t’ I am not so sure I can trust the Travel Agent’s description, after all they are trained to make things sound better than what they really are. Nope, I would not go unless I had been there first to check it out and, because that is not an option, I’ll give it a miss!
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 Feb 10
yeah. not fair that you have to go on faith and that there are no second chances...
