A while back I led a class of 80 and 90 year olds. We discussed the question: "Does my life still have value?" This is, to me, a deeply spiritual question. The answers are complex and personal but, most of the time, have to do with meaning and purpose.
Pew Research Center put out a poll recently asking "Would You Want to Live to be 120?" The majority of people in every age category said "No" and the biggest percentage of the "Nos" came for folks over 65. Reasons ranged from pain and suffering to using more than our share of resources.
So, how do we know when life ceases to have meaning? Again, that's a personal question.
As you know, I love my "New Yorker" magazine. And, as you know, I love the satirical column, "Shouts and Murmurs" the best. This week, it's written by Simon Rich and is titled "The Tribal Rite of the Strombergs." It's over the top disgusting, disrespectful and demeaning to older people. And I love it. It makes me think.
It starts with the Strombegs, father and son, playing scrabble. When the son, Jeremy wins, the father knows what he must do. He orders his son to beat him to death and "eat my weakened body...for I have become too old to live."
And so on. It turns out that Mrs. Stromberg had put her mom onto an ice flow when grandma had forgotten the name of the actor who played Frasier. The family had fed Aunt Susan to a horse in Central park when she promised her niece a summer internship at Bravo and didn't come through. Uncle Mort marched into the ocean when his daughter discovered he was still using AOL.
Simon Rich, in his crazy/funny/outlandish way, is addressing the question "When does life cease to have meaning?" I don't think the Strombergs have the answer but the question is one that Dave and I talk about all the time.
***
Pew Research Center put out a poll recently asking "Would You Want to Live to be 120?" The majority of people in every age category said "No" and the biggest percentage of the "Nos" came for folks over 65. Reasons ranged from pain and suffering to using more than our share of resources.
So, how do we know when life ceases to have meaning? Again, that's a personal question.
As you know, I love my "New Yorker" magazine. And, as you know, I love the satirical column, "Shouts and Murmurs" the best. This week, it's written by Simon Rich and is titled "The Tribal Rite of the Strombergs." It's over the top disgusting, disrespectful and demeaning to older people. And I love it. It makes me think.
It starts with the Strombegs, father and son, playing scrabble. When the son, Jeremy wins, the father knows what he must do. He orders his son to beat him to death and "eat my weakened body...for I have become too old to live."
And so on. It turns out that Mrs. Stromberg had put her mom onto an ice flow when grandma had forgotten the name of the actor who played Frasier. The family had fed Aunt Susan to a horse in Central park when she promised her niece a summer internship at Bravo and didn't come through. Uncle Mort marched into the ocean when his daughter discovered he was still using AOL.
Simon Rich, in his crazy/funny/outlandish way, is addressing the question "When does life cease to have meaning?" I don't think the Strombergs have the answer but the question is one that Dave and I talk about all the time.
***
