Because of Anne Rice, there is a very large generation of us that have fantasized about living forever. That morphed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries fans. But I wonder how many of us have thoroughly thought about what it would mean to live a very long life? We all assume that living a long life means it should be genuinely a pleasant one, with less pain and more happiness. However, I don’t think that would be the case. Living a long life would mean watching your loved ones die and continuing on with them becoming a distant memory.
How enjoyable would life be to be alone and start over again and again, only to end up alone once more? I don’t know if I would like to live that way. Even though I have a fear of my life ending, I’m uncertain if I could handle starting over continuously. I am not talking about immortality, but something close to it. Not everyone would have the luck of being blessed or cursed with a long life. There would still be illnesses. Would that make things harder watching your child die so young? Or harder at an older age knowing they could have lived even longer? With this extended life, would we have our wits about us, or would there be an uncontrollable amount of people with dementia? Or at that point, would we begin to euthanize humans?
Life never ending is a beautiful thought if everything is perfect. But nothing is ever perfect when humanity is involved.
Would we be at war longer if those who fought had more time on the battlefield? If our lives were extended, would we continue working in unfulfilling professions for longer or rediscover the beauty of art? Would we prioritize family life because of having more time to cherish our loved ones, or would children suffer neglect as their eighteen short years are extended to centuries?
I wouldn’t want to live as a human with an extended life unless I was living in a fantasy world filled with vampires and fairies. One where I wouldn’t have to worry about being stuck in a dead-end job for eternity. Because that sounds like hell on Earth.