Such great comments and insights in response to a balanced and informative article.
I think those of us in the “older demographic” might make up all, or most of the commenters here.
At 63 I still think I’m not yet truly old, but realize that to pretty much every younger person, I appear ancient, if not totally invisible. At times I wonder about how many healthy, active years I might have left, perhaps that is one sign you’re actually getting old, thoughts of your life ending start to creep in, but then at other times I think about how many years I could have left.
Perhaps we all wonder about how our lives might end and all hope it will be quick and painless, but we all also know we will have little control over our demise. My mother died in her eighties from dementia and my father collapsed at home and died of in hospital after we found him, from pneumonia and a possible stroke. I had to make the decision to either have intensive care provided, or only have basic care administered. Knowing that both mum and dad had stipulated no intense intervention, I followed their wishes. Dad was given only antibiotics for the pneumonia and died within 24 hours without waking. Mum passed away 12 hours before him, neither knew about the other. Distressing as that was, it was perhaps the best outcome for them. After 60 plus years together both of them often said that they hoped the other went first because they both couldn’t bare the thought the other wouldn’t cope.
I hope that my body might be some use to science, or provide some still useful parts to help someone still alive and I don’t wish for a fancy funeral, planted under a new tree would be fine. With a bit of luck, by the time my end comes euthanasia might be legalised, should I be facing a slow and painful inevitable death.
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