While I am not particularly old, I have been doing some adult-like things lately and even planning for my own demise. Despite my relative youth, the recent health of my grandparents has me considering the negative aspects of long life. A few years ago my grandmother had a heart attack, since which she has been on medications that may have contributed to the stroke she had last year. Most recently, it was determined that one of her medications is preventing her heart from working effectively. While I am not anti-medicine (or anti-vaccination, for that matter), there has to be a point at which the medicalization of old age becomes counter productive. (Maybe we all need to think a bit more about the old woman who swallowed a fly.) I recognize that it is easy to make these sorts of proclamations while one is healthy and relatively youthful, but I hope that in my old age I am willing to convince others to let me put aside the drugs and, if necessary, die.
