longevity is getting old

My grandmother was a wonderful woman. She lived to be almost 96 years old and most of that was spent independently albeit the last 15 living on my parents property. And I wish she could have spent a few more years with us. Her age though was mere happenstance, and she never expected to be 85 much less 90. What i don't get is societies desire to live longer, as if the life expectancy isn't long enough. I'm not saying we should banish those that do celebrate their 90th or 100th birthday and beyond. But why, why are we so obsessed with everyone celebrating their 100th birthday.
I read an article today that like so many discovered a fact that I and probably many others who are privileged to have been brought up in long lived families realized- there isn't any magic to being a centenarian- 95+ adults have the same (bad) habits as the rest of us and as their departed generational counterparts. Now we have a study to prove it. In other words those beyond 95 don't exhibit anymore health conscientiousness than any one else, the same percentages smoke, exercise (or don't), are obese, etc. I and many others could have told them that for a fraction of what i'm sure the study costs but then again i'm not working in Washington.... I can remember my great grandmother (as i said long lived family) eating a plate of fried eggs, greasy bacon, and toast slathered in real butter every morning for breakfast and she lived to the ripe old age of 97.
The study went on to point out that just because there is no magic technique that guarantees a hundred year life span, doesn't give you carte blanche to do whatever you like health wise. Its all in genetics and those that make it to a century just got lucky in utero, so to speak. So me eating fried eggs, greasy bacon, and toast slathered in real butter every morning no more guarantees that i will live to be 97 than keeping money in mason jars in the freezer (as my great grand also did, wary of economic depression). What i'm really getting at is this article stated that scientists would like to develop drugs that harness these "good genetics" so that one day we may all have a chance to live to be 100. And this is where the article went from intellectual curiosity to disbelief for me. Disbelief that even as we already live about twice as long as people just two centuries ago, we still feel the need to live longer. Is this really a thing? What, in the next millennium is 200 going to be the new 100? I think one important point has been missed- you may live longer but u still get OLD. Yes my grandmother lived to be 95 but she wasn't an athlete or an acrobat, she got winded walking to the mailbox at the end of the drive, she suffered chronic skin tears, she didn't drive, and except for checking the mail she very seldom left a 40 square foot section of yard. My great was hospitalized for congestive heart failure three times and spent her last remaining years in a nursing home suffering from dementia. They were wonderful people and i'm glad that they were able to be part of my life but guess what- they were still OLD. I say that because i know most of the fascination with living longer is the idea of more time- more time to accomplish things, more time to enjoy the people in your life. Noble ideas but it doesn't play out that way- most people that live into their 90's and beyond have deterioration of the body, or mind, and sometimes both. Its not a place i want to be and i think if many people thought about it its not a place they want to be either. There’s no point in living long if you can't get out and enjoy the world or remember who your loved ones are. I don't think you'll read about many centenarians who are jetsetters or high powered CEO's or avid cooks. Do you honestly remember many 90+ people partying like it was 1999? Why because they got OLD- it doesn't matter what they did in their twenties or forties, they physically, and in some cases mentally, can't do those things anymore. So i ask, what’s the point in living longer? I think Ponce De Leon was after something much more promising though far less probable- the fountain of youth. And that’s something i can get on board with. Damnit if i'm going to live to be 100 then i want to be who i was at 25, mind and body wise. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way and i'd venture so far as to say it never will, no matter how long modern medicine keeps us alive, you can't bypass aging. Like it or not your body is an organic machine, and just like a car for example the older it gets, the more wear and tear, the more maintenance it needs- you don't see a whole lot of Model T's running around town- better technology, fuel efficiency, and modern convinces are only half the story, its also b/c they're OLD and therefore require much more maintenance than say a brand new Ford Focus. Sure, science can keep u alive, hell the way things are going it can even make u beautiful, but just like that restored, showroom condition Model T, you may still go and be nice to look at but u can't do the things a new model can.
So i just don't understand why that’s something people want, and wish for. Do take care of yourself but there’s no prize for getting old, they aren't handing out paychecks to centenarians, they're usually handing them bills, doctors visits, and surgeries. To me, growing older is like a bell curve and there comes a point where its not as much fun anymore. Not to mention the more morbid but true side, death is supposed to happen, its a natural check on resource usage that humans have already tinkered with too much. The planet is overpopulated with Homo sapiens as is- squandering resources, leveling forests, polluting the air and water. There’s a generation of Baby Boomers who are in danger of having no retirement benefits, social security, or medical care in a country hell bent on cutting services. Yet science apparently feels the need to keep us going longer so that we can chew through more resources faster and become a further drag on an already beleaguered national, and world, economy. I'm so glad they're working to solve the most pressing societal concerns. And part of me believes they have considered none of this, just as Ian proposes in Jurassic Park- "You were so busy with whether or not you could and never asked yourself if you should." If this kind of longevity science and anti-abortion activists get their whims i'm sure we can be well on our way to world economic collapse and all out starvation by 2050. *thumbs up*
I still have to ask why? Is it because people are afraid they'll miss something, hell you'll always miss something, no matter how good science gets at keep us alive because in the end you're still going to get OLD and the die. And its not like you'll be able to do anything about the somethings you do see at 105. Living a long life is not all its cracked up to be, instead of squandering the time you have, instead of wishing you had ten more years or live to see the next century, live your life now, take care of yourself, pack as much in it as you can everyday, and it really won't matter what your life span is. After all living a long time is getting old....