On The Futility (and Absurdity) Of "Bucket Lists"

Joe Queenan's WSJ Sunday Review piece, ('It's Time to Kick The Bucket List', p. C1) was so spot on it made me wonder if he possessed a preternatural sixth sense to sniff out humbug - like I do.  As he puts it in the subheader:

"Americans have become obsessed with having big experiences. But bungee-jumping in Madagascar or shooting baskets with an NBA star won't really make your life complete."

Indeed.   Also, as Queenan is insightful enough to point out:

"The term 'bucket list' in and of itself is problematic. Technically, it refers to having one foot in the bucket, to being at least near death's doorstep. Unfortunately, the word 'bucket' is corny,  rustic, uninspiring, down market. No, make that hideous. List isn't much better."

And expatiating on his main complaint:

"Like American Youth soccer and country music, bucket lists started out as something harmless and amusing before turning into a nightmare. Officially the concept derives from a 2007 film about two, doomed old coots competing with one another to polish off a list of personal dreams before the Grim Reaper carries them off.

But as so often happens in this otherwise great country, something that started out as a joke became a clinical disorder.  It's as if every woman who watched 'Thelma and Louise' suddenly decided it was a great idea to drive a car off a cliff.

Today, everyone with a few bucks to spare seems to be fixated on bucket lists. 100 places to see before you die. No, make that 1,000 places. Fifty restaurants to eat in before you die - no, 200. The top 111 bucket list ideas, 15, 378 Top -Quality bucket list suggestions."

And, of course, he correctly notes too many items are obvious and generic, i.e. the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Mount Fuji, the Aurora Borealis.

But his most cogent point is how all such lists carry more than a whiff of desperation, or "last chance-ism" eliciting his question: "Why didn't you write that tongue-in -cheek novel about vampires masquerading as hedge fund managers (e.g. earlier)?  Or, why didn't you go to Alaska to see the Aurora Borealis earlier, instead of ending up with a case of "way too much to do and far to late"?

Queenan then isn't so much against the notion per se as against the contrived nature of modern bucket lists, including the "monkey see, monkey do" aspect. As he observes (p. C2):

"Seeing Robert Plant live in concert in 2018 doesn't make up for not having seen Led Zeppelin in 1968. Attending a pallid recreation of Woodstock in 2016 is not the same as having sat in the driving rain at the real gathering back in 1969."

Which drives the point of why so many bucket lists these days have become "obsessive, expensive and painful" - because too many are trying to have experiences they should have had much earlier, and in a more authentic form. So now, when it's almost too late - and they are really faced with their own finality, mortality, they want to do it all - even if many are just pale imitation experiences..

I've never entertained any "bucket lists" but basically over the course of my life chose experiences when and where interesting ones became available. For example, while attending Loyola University - New Orleans,  going to see Simon and Garfunkel perform at the Fieldhouse in 1966, as well as Peter Paul and Mary, then Donovan in 1967.  I didn't wait until the 2000s to attend performances by their aged counterparts, say for some "50 year PBS anniversary" special. Ditto with going to see a live performance of Steppenwolf in New Orleans, in 1969.

Going to South America had also been on aspiration from early, when I used to page through images of Jaguars and jungles in National Geographic. I did go in August, 1978-  not as an artificial stop - but as part of a teaching workshop for which I'd volunteered. Nope, didn't get to see any Jaguars but did see plenty of jungle in the drive to and from Timehri Airport in Guyana.

The observation of the Aurora came naturally while I was based at the Geophysical Institute in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1985-86. Then again, when Janice and I visited on our own in 2005.

We were also afforded the chance to go dog sledding, just south of the Arctic Circle, e.g.

and taking a flight- seeing trip to Mount Denali, e.g.

Switzerland was always a place we loved, especially its sublime mountains, so no surprise we took three holidays there during our prime working years. We didn't wait until we were retired, aging and unable to go up and down the mountains mountains!


Top- negotiating climb near Grindelwald (1978), bottom, at Piz Gloria, Schilthorn, Switzerland, 1978.

 One connection we were never able to make - for one reason or other-  was to join Janice's cousin Rich on one of his African safaris, to South Africa and Namibia.  But hell, we did the next best thing, after Janice's company (Nucletron) gave her a free trip to Disney World on her retirement. The gift included air fare and $2,000 cash to spend, so we opted to stay on  site and go on the 'Wild Africa Trek" safari.  No, I agree it wasn't exactly like the real thing, but we did get to see a number of voracious carnivores and other wildlife up close and personal, e.g.

Three of the scenes during our 'African safari'  at Disney World.

Some may howl with laughter at the ersatz Disney safari, having done the real thing in Botswana on their actual bucket list, but as Queenan admonishes (ibid.)  :

"You don't really need to swim with the sharks to feel complete.Swim with the Manatee instead, you'll live longer. . Cross anything off your list that could conceivably involve crossing paths with the Taliban or needing to get your meniscus repaired. I don't care how gorgeous Machu Picchu is, at a certain age the local microbes could be fatal to your health."

Adding, with a definite pragmatic undertone:

"Nobody really needs to go falconing in Mongolia or riding on the back of a nurse shark in Alaska for their life to be complete.  They need to raise kids who won't grow up to hate them. Or take care of their aging mother and making sure she gets a nice sendoff."

So what started the desperate bucket list obsession? Who knows?  But one suspects it has a lot to do with increasing recognition of one's mortality - and that the time which one has to do things- especially after passing the midlife mark -  is not a limitless quantity. This is most likely to emerge when one has entered retirement or is approaching it.  In this sense, the  once benign and aspirational bucket list soon transforms to a series of desperate,  "do or die" onerous demands. At that point such list is no longer useful but infused with futility and yes, absurdity. I would also wager that once lifetime aspirations are postponed until past middle age this is almost certainly to happen. But lo and behold, the dug in deniers will merely spout denunciations of "jealousy" or other bollocks.

Queenan acknowledged that  mentality near the end of his piece, i.e.  "we all risk being shunned and ridiculed if we do not have a fully operational bucket list" but then adds for good measure, "a proper bucket list should be short and selective, it's a bucket list not a laundry list."  Clearly hoping to impart a note of sanity and temperance.

But in a temperate and rational world, the bucket list is superfluous, and rigidly pursuing one is the province of the confirmed chucklehead or delusionary.   These are the "too little, too late" activity lists driven by vanity, jealousy, artifice or desperate obsession in the face of one's end, not realizing it all smacks of futility in that mode.

Rather than squeezing umpteen artificially decided actions into a few years near the end of life, it makes more sense to be mindful of novel experiences when they are afforded over one's whole life. That means, however, that we experience our lives in the moment and take the opportunities for enriched experiences when they arise naturally. Not just after the  fact, or when we perceive the hands of 'Father Time' winding down.

More Scenes From Around Switzerland

As I noted before, in posts from Sept. 16-17th, Switzerland is much more than the Alps, which I do admit are its main calling card and visitor draw. But there is so much more there that even a million images can't capture it all- though I hope the few posted here make a start - for those interested.

One of the first places we visited was the remarkable Rhinefall in NE Switzerland, as shown in this photo with a tourist boat coming within view:

The Rhinefall in NE Switzerland near the German border.

The Rhinefall is near the Bodensee, also called "Lake Konstanz" or Lake Constance, and not far from the Swiss border with Germany. Indeed, the German city of Konstanz was our next stop and the photo below shows yours truly with the town profile in the background - taken from the roof of our hotel restaurant. (Before hitting Konstanz we drove through Schaffhausen which was accidentally bombed by the Allies - the only Swiss locale- during WWII).

At Konstanz, Germany with the city skyline in the background.

Amazingly, we drove from Switzerland right across the German border without having to show any passports or ID. In fact, as our guide Rolf informed us - and which was abundantly evident - the passport control building was vacant today - a Sunday.

After our treks across NE Switzerland including Appenzell and St. Gallen, we eventually ended up in the Jungfrau region and the Wengen area - where we stayed for 11 days. The scene below shows the area taken from a hill leading to our hotel:

Scene near Wengen where we stayed for 11 days.

The hotel is shown here, as we approach it along a steep hill, after returning from a hike in the Lautebrunnen Valley:

Our hotel in Wengen, Our room was on the 1st floor at the extreme right end.

Speaking of Lautebrunnen, one of the foremost sights there is the Trimmelbach Falls which is shown below, again with yours truly in the foreground:

The Trimmelbach Falls in Lautebrunnen. We hiked there one Sunday.

Of course, a big part, perhaps the biggest, of going to Switzerland, is making long hikes. One of our most intense and enjoyable was a hike from Mannlichen down to Kleine Scheidegg which lasted over two hours.  About midway through the hike I am shown below:

On the trail (a 'white-red-white'  or difficult designation) headed to Kleine Scheidegg

Yep, you can really, really get exhausted on these long hikes, but the views of the mountain backgrounds along the way provides a strong incentive to keep on keeping on!

On To Switzerland: The Crossroads of the World

Question: In what country are you likely to find: Hindus, Pakistani Muslims, Chinese Communists, Australians, Malaysians, Americans, Japanese and Koreans all swamping the same places - taking the same trains, etc.? The answer is Switzerland! With only 15, 940 square miles this beautiful nation has every type of terrain with at least one certain to appeal to everyone who comes. But what sets it apart are the majestic Swiss Alps which are unusual here, because they are made accessible to mountain lovers!

As one Australian told me during one of our last train trips (from Schynige Platte) on our just completed 2-week holiday: "Yes, we could've  gone to New Zealand to see some mountains. But it's over here you can actually GET to them!"

He wasn't kidding! At Jungfrau Joch, for example, one can actually get in the literal shadow of the mountain peak, Jungfrau. There are few other places one has such access - and also - the ability to dine in a restaurant built on the self-same mountain side!

We arrived at Jungfrau Joch just six days after arriving in Zurich. Staying in the hamlet of Wengen, we had a perfect launching pad by which to access a number of mountain delights including Grindelwald, Brienze and the Rothorn, the Santis and also the Schilthorn and Piz Gloria (where a famous shootout between 007 and his enemies was filmed in the 1969 Bond flick, 'In Her Majesty's Secret Service')

I will cover some more regions of Switzerland but now a few photos.

 First, our arrival at the JungfrauJoch station:And walking through the ice corridor to get out to the plateau:


Next, part of the crowd on the Jungfrau plateau and with the Sphinx Meteorological Observatory visible at the right:

Earlier we had gone to the platform circling the Sphinx  Observatory for a panoramic 360 degree view of the Jungfrau region.  About half of those present were Japanese, and perhaps 20 percent Indians and Chinese, while about 50 Aussies showed up  - including, amazingly, a bevy (14)  of Australian school students (girls) who removed their tops and stood facing the chasm of the valley bare breasted. Since the scene was so unusual, our camera was as active as about fifty five others all going off at the same time and capturing the same surreal scene:

We judged the girls to be Sixth form students or the equivalent of American freshman university coeds. We also suspected they (or previous groups from their school) had pulled this off before as some kind of a ritual.  There was also no gainsaying the fact that they may have derived some pleasure from being the center of attention of hundreds of other visitors on the Jungfrau Plateau.

When the mob scene at the crest of the Jungfrau Joch died down, Janice turned her camera on yours truly standing with the peak in the background.

No, I'm not actually THAT fat. I had to put on several layers of clothing beneath the Green Bay Packers 'shell' jacket, including a thick t-shirt, and a fleece jacket. What struck us this time, unlike when we were there in 1978, is that the powers-that-be had roped off the entire plateau area and warned visitors not to jump over the ropes to go beyond. (In 1978, no such rope boundaries existed and we hiked up the side of the inclined slope over 400 feet to look down below.)  We observed chunks of snow and ice falling and suspect a primary reason is that global warming has rendered the snow-packed slopes more treacherous, and the risk of avalanche higher. This view was also supported during the train trip up as we observed several glaciers that had retreated significantly - including Eiger Gletscher - since we were there in 1978.

Earlier, before going out on the train to the Jungfrau Plateau - at an earlier train stop- we enjoyed the Eismeer, an ice cave full of intriguing ice sculptures.


In 1978 when we ventured into the Eismeer, there was no discrete passage way marked out and the ice varied in temperature resulting in a very slippery walk, Now, all that's changed and the ice is kept at a stable temperature and you can actually walk across it without breaking your neck. The Swiss, to their credit, have taken the Jungfrau attraction and ramped up the quality of the facilities to levels we couldn't conceive 36 years ago. Whereas before there was no defined order to seeing the assorted sights, one now could take a path featuring seven parts, starting with a 360 degree film of the panorama that puts you at the center.

On the way back we had an interesting encounter on the train from Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen. Seated to the side of us were two Chinese in uniforms - Mao suits. These were not typical Chinese middle class tourists, and they probably weren't there just to take in the sights. The older of the two - maybe 68 or 70- wore his Mao cap just over the brow and constantly eyed the surroundings - rapidly  talking to his younger counterpart.  If I had to make a guess, I would have pegged the older of the pair as a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the People's Republic. He was clearly no nonsense, and the eyes betrayed an intensity not visible in the other Chinese we encountered. What was he doing here? Who knows? Possibly it was to see how China might advance its own tourism potential and develop its sights, much like the Swiss have theirs.  I certainly doubt he was a spy or anything like that.

Why have so many from so many different (and sometimes warring nations) found it safe to come to this country? The first reason is likely Switzerland's neutrality. They are a neutral nation and they prefer it that way. However, neutrality must not be taken to mean pacifist! Each Swiss male is required to undergo military training and each keeps his own rifle at his home, ready for call up on a moment's notice. Those young Swiss who don't qualify for military training are given alternative service.

Thus, what the Swiss practice is actually armed neutrality.  Our Swiss friend Rolf gave us lots of background, including how the Swiss had to negotiate a difficult path during World War II - with the threat of German - Nazi invasion always a possibility, but the nimble Swiss able to dodge it by deft diplomacy or making concessions. (In one case, after downing 11 Luftwaffe planes and raising the ire of the Germans, they had to keep 100 Allied planes in impound - oh, and also keep the Swiss banks open for business.)

So why do so many from so many nations come to Switzerland? For its beauty for sure, but also  because they know the country provides a safe and secure haven. Also, as one Australian told me: 

"You know the trains run on time and you can depend on all the assorted machines and vehicles, You don't have to worry about a chair lift breaking down midway during a mountain transit, or a cable car losing one of its doors halfway over the Grindelwald valley. You KNOW you're in safe hands from the moment you arrive. Nothing is left to chance."

Well said, and perhaps why a wizened Chinese Communist Politburo member likes it too.

Oh, one more thing: the Swiss water sites including lakes and rivers are crystal clear, not one hint of any pollution. Their water also tastes better than nearly every other place we've been to. We asked Rolf if any fracking was going on or if it would ever be allowed. His response was blunt and to the point: never in a million years! The Swiss environment - not to mention the water -  was simply too critical a resource  to leave to the suspect mercies of frackers! The Swiss cherish their nation's natural beauty too much to turn it over to exploitative, frack-happy fiends.