Why do People Want to Live Long Lives?

Man has always been interested in longevity
since the beginning of time. While we were child-
ren, we wished we remained as children so we
could enjoy our games and playgrounds longer,
while at times thinking how nice it would be if
we were to become adults real fast so we could
do the things we children couldn't do! But when
we reached adulthood, oh, how we longed to stay
young all the time! And when we reached middle
age, time became more and more precious, and
we earnestly desired never to become old or simp-
ly vowed never to get old too quickly!¹ Then
when we became old, we'd no doubt craved to
live on, except that we realized that we had to
accept reality, especially when sickness set in!
So we reluctantly resigned ourselves to the fact
that our days were coming to an end, even as we
counted the number of days left for us to dwell
on this earth. But some of us die-hards still
hoped against all hopes that somehow we could
still live longer. For some, they even resorted
to freezing their dying bodies, or had requested
to have theirs frozen² before they died, in the
hope that one day, a cure might be found, and
they can then be defrosted and cured to live on,
and on.....

We are truly creatures of immortality, or at
least, ones with a yearning to forever stay
young (which is why so many risk their health
by dyeing their hair in order not to let their
grayness defy their passion to remain, or at
least appear, youthful). And not only that, we
are also the only earthly creatures who never
want to die! Someone said something like this
once: "We are creatures that have a void which
only the eternal God can fill." We are undoubt-
edly eternal beings that have lost our
immortality because God left us at one stage
because of sin, thereby leaving in our hearts
a vacuum for immortality, yet never quite
making it on our own. Which is why we hunger
and thirst for everlasting life, and failing
that, to live long.

Good thing there are groups of people in this
world of ours who show by life how they live
long (long, at least according to our present
frame of mind because this is still a rarity);
they remind us that long life beyond 100 is
still possible. For further reading, kindly
refer to the previous blog.




¹This is the reason why baby-boomers' spending on anti-aging products and services in the U.S.A. has been spiking, and will hit US$72 million in 2009, according to "Nutraceuticals International," a trade publication (as quoted in Peter Keating's article, "Antiaging Clinics Are Gaining in Popularity" in SmartMoney, July 9, 2008).


²Cryonics uses extreme cold temperatures to preserve the life of a person who is dying, to wait until such time when the technology is available to reverse the process, and bring the person back to life. There're people who resort to this approach out of fear of dying, or simply because they hate to leave life and its abundances behind.