I helped take care of my great-grandmother for a few years before she passed at 102 years old. I can’t say I feel strongly about living that long, but if I had to choose, I suppose I’d rather not.
Perhaps due to a mixture of being exposed to the concept of death early on and not being particularly impressed with the way humans have built society, I have no intention of grasping onto life longer than necessary. If I’m 90 years old and a machine is breathing for me…unplug it. I’ve truly lived long enough.
As usual, this question made me think of something else. Fire Force 5 is one of my top ten favorite animes/mangas. It explores the concept that humans have begun to live so long that they fear death. Women typically don’t die due to childbirth, children typically don’t die young, and the average life expectancy is well past 30. However, when death isn’t frequently knocking at your door, people fear it so much that it inadvertently becomes the thing they crave the most. It’s like when you’re watching a horror movie, and you’re so terrified of an inevitable jumpscare that you wish it would happen already so you can get it over with. Ideally, you’d wish for it to never happen, but you know it will. The same goes for death.
Fearing death can also be wrapped up in feeling like you lack control. Most people have a warped perception of what they can and can’t control; they haven’t been taught how to properly cope with their emotions, and they don’t know how to live without feeling like a piece of them shouldn’t exist or is already dead. Because of this, some people survive their whole life without feeling like they lived at all.
You know how you can ask for a late check-out at a hotel when you feel like you need more time? Some people do that with life, and if it means that they finally get to live, then that’s okay, too.
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