Daniel Callahan wonders if death is in trouble. Have we pushed death back so far with the advances in medicine that we no longer die of old age? It’s an interesting thought. Death may be intellectually inevitable but it’s always touted as a “battle” and a “defeat.” We expend billions looking to “wipe out” a condition only to have another take its place. I suppose what we’re trying to do is flatten the aging curve so that there’s an unexpected precipitous drop at the end rather than the dwindles. That’s what heart disease did for us, but now sudden death from a heart attack is in dramatic decline. The unfortunate pervasive drug ads make us think that, yes, science will continue to solve that next problem for us, then the next.
But in reality I wander into old age with a sense of unease. What’s waiting for me? A fall with a broken hip? A lurking pancreatic cancer? A stroke? Or, God forbid, Alzheimer’s. This is where a type of beneficent denial can help. Know the inevitable but get on with fun living – yes, a day at a time. Compartmentalize death. Expect loss, but move on. All easy to say, but I’ll keep trying as I close in to that point where the actuaries say I’m over the top. And I need to admit, it’s not in my control.