It seems all bound up in the stress of "putting off ones death". Not the accidental, fell under a bus type of death but the evaluating and measuring of our personal longevity.
The Actuaries must be having a dreadful time trying to keep the Life Insurance companies financially viable as the goal posts continually move and the indices by which the population as a whole is measured, puts us under tremendous pressure to conform.
The ways and the means of staying alive longer fill our news papers and magazines. The TV has an ongoing "diet" of lifestyle choices to suit living longer and we are made to feel bad if we don't succumb.
Of course no one has asked the "oldies" what they think about the business of struggling on into their nineties and it is assumed that they will want to do it.
Old age is an accumulation of change. The physical wear and tear on the bodies parts often bring pain, and pain brings sleepless nights in which one can wonder at the "gift" of longevity. The years often bring the separation from a loved one and lonely nights missing them.
The focus on living brings dying into perspective and it becomes a regular colleague in the daily dance as we question what we put in our mouths and the effect it will have on living longer.
Exercise is a must if we want to live longer. Our comfortable day must be interspersed with bouts of madness as we stretch to ensure the poor old muscles, who by now deserve a rest, must be brought out of retirement to earn their keep and don't seize up.
When we were young it was natural to strive and compete against our peers but this striving against the Grim Reaper is of a different dimension and should be seriously questioned.
Death will come this year or the next, does it really matter which ?
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