How old do you consider "a life well lived"?

Page 1 of 2 [ 23 posts ] Go to page 1, 2 Next

Joined: 21 Oct 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,257
Location: Waterloo, ON, Canada

21 Jan 2011, 7:41 pm

You hear people say when a teen dies from a car accident "they were too young to die" or "they had a future ahead of them".

You also hear of people who live past 100 say "my time should have been up a long time ago" or "why am I still here?"

Then you have those who pass away in their 70s and 80s from natural causes like heart disease or cancer and their loved ones would be thinking "yeah its sad but death is a natural process and everyone's gotta go at some point." And while they are sad, they have this feeling of acceptance that its "normal" and that it happens.

So what do you consider a life well lived?

I see it more like HOW you lived your life and if you have wasted your life being miserable or if you have done your best making this world a better place and helping others.

However, I do feel its really sad that teens are dying from preventable causes. As for those who live past 100, they should enjoy the days they have left.

Giftorcurse
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 Apr 2009
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,887
Location: Port Royal, South Carolina

21 Jan 2011, 7:47 pm

I'm already dead.

_________________
Yes, I'm still alive.

Kaybee
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 Oct 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,446
Location: A hidden forest

21 Jan 2011, 7:50 pm

I don't think living well is dependent upon one's age. A person might live to sixty or eighty and not have lived life well. A person might live to twenty or forty and have lived well.

_________________
"A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it."

Descartes
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 8 Apr 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,288
Location: Texas, unfortunately

21 Jan 2011, 7:55 pm

Kaybee wrote:

I don't think living well is dependent upon one's age. A person might live to sixty or eighty and not have lived life well. A person might live to twenty or forty and have lived well.

My thoughts exactly.

_________________
What fresh hell is this?

Moog
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,671
Location: Untied Kingdom

21 Jan 2011, 8:03 pm

Quality not quantity. What Kaybee wrote.

_________________
Not currently a moderator

jc6chan
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Oct 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,257
Location: Waterloo, ON, Canada

21 Jan 2011, 9:09 pm

But its true that people are more shocked when someone dies young.

Moog
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,671
Location: Untied Kingdom

21 Jan 2011, 9:13 pm

jc6chan wrote:

But its true that people are more shocked when someone dies young.

People have expectations about life spans.

Maybe it hurts people more to think that their potential invincibility through genetics is threatened?

Quote:

I see it more like HOW you lived your life and if you have wasted your life being miserable or if you have done your best making this world a better place and helping others.

I agree with this.

_________________
Not currently a moderator

RightGalaxy
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Age: 66
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,145

21 Jan 2011, 9:27 pm

A life well lived would be retiring from a job that you loved all your working life.
Spending 50 years with the love of your life. Raising happy, healthy children and watching them succeed too...and then dying peacefully in your sleep after willing a fortune to those that you loved and left behind. Also being remembered fondly and having this said about you: Too bad the world isn't full of people like him/her. We've really lost someone.

Titangeek
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 22 Aug 2010
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,696
Location: somewhere in the vicinity of betelgeuse

21 Jan 2011, 10:54 pm

Kaybee wrote:

I don't think living well is dependent upon one's age. A person might live to sixty or eighty and not have lived life well. A person might live to twenty or forty and have lived well.

that reminds me of a quote
Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It's not the time that matters it's the person.
-Tenth Doctor

RightGalaxy wrote:

Seconded

_________________
Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
- Bruce Lee

jc6chan
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Oct 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,257
Location: Waterloo, ON, Canada

21 Jan 2011, 11:26 pm

RightGalaxy wrote:

and having this said about you: Too bad the world isn't full of people like him/her. We've really lost someone.

Interestingly, I think that for most people, this is said at their funeral. So if it is said at most funerals, that means that in a sense, the world is "kind of" full of people like him/her. Seriously though, I don't mind it. A person just died, may as well say the positive about them.

CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 121,196
Location: In my own little country

22 Jan 2011, 12:01 am

I'd say that well into your 90s is a life well lived. To be in your 90s is to be old, man.

_________________
The Family Schlager

Foxx
Deinonychus

Joined: 14 Nov 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 340

22 Jan 2011, 2:31 am

a life well lived would, to me, be when you have experienced the things you wanted to and gained the goals you've wished for. As said by the tenth doctor himself previously, some have tried what they wanted to try when they were twenty, while others never gain the opportunity of fulfilling their dreams.

it has absolutely nothing to do with age, but with the experiences gained imo.

Who_Am_I
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,632
Location: Australia

22 Jan 2011, 4:41 am

What Kaybee said.

_________________
Music Theory 101: Cadences.
Authentic cadence: V-I
Plagal cadence: IV-I
Deceptive cadence: V- ANYTHING BUT I ! !! !
Beethoven cadence: V-I-V-I-V-V-V-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I
-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I! I! I! I I I

happymusic
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Feb 2010
Age: 51
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,165
Location: still in ninja land

22 Jan 2011, 8:57 am

If you're a greedy bastard and live to be 80 then it's a waste. When I was little I knew another little girl who effected me deeply by her natural kindness. Her life would have been well lived even if she hadn't made it past 10.

ryan93
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 15 Apr 2009
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,315
Location: Galway, Ireland

22 Jan 2011, 12:11 pm

17 is a long enough time to alive, after that it seems to be mostly filler.

_________________
The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists - Erwin Schrodinger

Member of the WP Strident Atheists

Moog
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,671
Location: Untied Kingdom

22 Jan 2011, 2:28 pm

ryan93 wrote:

17 is a long enough time to alive, after that it seems to be mostly filler.

I used to think like that at 17 too.

_________________
Not currently a moderator

Page 1 of 2 [ 23 posts ] Go to page 1, 2 Next

Jump to:

How old do you consider "a life well lived"? Post Reply New Topic

How old do you consider "a life well lived"?