Helen's Post on Why I Hope to Die at 75

Emanuel focuses his arguments regarding reasons for dying at 75 around being able bodied and having the mind of a young person. His arguments fail to consider the lived experiences of aging individuals. Although activities and interactions with others do change as we age, writing off these changes as inherently deterimental to the lived experienced and how others experience the elderly is problematic. Emanuel's focus on ingenuity, creativity, and the ability to thrive professionally is interesting. From my perspective, as individuals age and live longer they are hopefully able to focus less on work and more time on interpersonal relationships. He dismisses this, however, stating that interpersonal relationships are primarily burdensome to others as people age. While there may be some truth to this, interpersonal relationships are valuable and although relationship dynamics may change as we age it does not mean we should simply skip aging altogether. His argument disregards the possibility of younger individuals having valuable and meaningful relationships with older people in their lives even if having these relationships require some work and sacrifice. It is important to point out that people are having children later in life. He does not discuss this or other societal factors that are important to address when discussing aging such as the economy. The policy implications that he discusses are important such as the need for more research on Alzheimer's and growing disabilities of old age. The reality is that people are living longer, while this may mean that aging is being elongated it does not necessarily mean that aging is inherently a detrimental and negative experience.