This Polaroid project is profoundly touching, not to mention fascinating from a sociological standpoint. The creators have collected hundreds of Polaroid snapshots, on which the participants finished the sentence “Before I die I want to…”

The Before I die I want to… project was inspired by a combination of factors: (1) the “death” of the Polaroid, (2) a psychologist’s tool called safety contracts, and (3) a passion to get people to think about (and act upon) what is really important in their lives through this simple, straight-forward question.

Some answers are simple or wild activities.

Some are conceptual and compassionate.

It’s interesting to compare the responses of Americans to those who live in India. Cultural differences become fairly apparent. The most common responses in India involved wanting to study or own a piece of property.

Another big divide: Individualism vs. Community

KS and Nicole found striking the individualism in America compared to the sense of community in India. In India, ks and Nicole found it common for people in a group to give the same answer, whereas in America, people go out of their way in order to have a unique response.

The project serves as a contract between photographer and subject (and also between the subject and him/herself). These wishes are on record, and the creators plan to follow up in a few years to see if people have moved toward their goals. I’d like to see even more countries represented!

I highly recommend reading the project description here. I can’t do it justice in summary.

I definitely have my own answers to this question. So…what do YOU want to do before you die?