It's only natural to look forward to something better. We do it all our lives. Things may never really improve , but at least we always hope they will. It is one of life's great ironies that the longer we live , the less there is to look forward to. Retirement may bring with it the fulfilment of a lifetime's dreams. At last there will be time to do all the things we never had time for.
From then on , the dream fades . Unless circumstances are exceptional , the prospect of growing really old is horrifying . Who wants to live long enough to become a doddering wreck ?Who wants to revert to that most dreaded of all human conditions , a second childhood?
Well , it seems that everybody wants to. The biblical span of three score years and ten is simply not enough . Medical science is doing all it can to extend human life and is succeeding brilliantly . Living conditions are so much better , so many diseases can either be prevented or cured that life expectation has increases enormously. No one would deny that this is a good thing - provided one enjoys perfect health . But is it good thing to extend human suffering , to prolong life , not in order to give joy and happiness , but to give pain and sorrow? Take an extreme example. Take the case of a man who is so senile he has lost all his faculties. He is in hospital in an unconscious state with little chance of coming round , but he is kept alive by atificial means for an indefinite period . Everyone , his friends , relatives and even the doctors agree that death will bring release.
Indeed , the patient himself would agree - if he were in a position to give voice to his feelings. Yet everything is done to perpetuate what has become a meaningless existence.
The question of euthanasia raises serious moral issues , since it implies that active measures will be taken to terminate human life. And this is an exceedingly dangerous principle to allow . But might it not be possible to compromise ? With regard to senility , it might be preferable to let nature take its course when death will relieve suffering. After all , this would be possible to interfere with the course of nature.
There are people in Afganistan and Russia who are reputed to live to a ripe old age. These exceptionally robust individuals are just getting into their stride at 70 . Cases have been reported of men over 120 getting and having children . Some of these people are said to be over 150 years old.Under such exceptional conditions , who wouldn't want to go on living forever? But in our societies, to be 70 , usually means that you are old; to be 90 , often that you are dicrepit . The instinct for self - preservation is the strongest we possess. We cling dearly to life while we have it and enjoy it. But there always comes a time when we'd be better off dead.
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