It is what it is. Never lose sight of the facts of reality.
the reality of how life goes for us is not necessarily recognized when we are young, but that is just the way it is, human nature maybe.
but we can not escape reality so as the saying goes "we get old so fast and smart so late"!

Careful, Dan. You'll get better at analogies than me.
Actually, I prefer the '69. But how about the cars of that era? I still mourn for my '69 Charger 440.

There is always a risk of demise at any age. Of course those who are young don't think about it as much, they can be careful and minimize risk but otherwise have more important things to think about: their lives. Being older with health problems makes it more of a direct an immediate concern.

The problems you must deal with are not as such something to celebrate, but accept facts as they are and you can see why the Kira attitude, true to her life until the end, is the right approach.

Ayn Rand also said "those who fight for the future live in it today". That is true for any moment as long as you are living.

That is so true.
Above my door to the garage I have a bumper sticker that says:" The best way to predict the future is to create it." Funny, though if you look at it two ways- one is we never see the future only
The here and now or -all we experience is the future unfolding before us like a 72 fleetwood brougham cruising across the states to unseen places.

The real problem, as I express in my opening paragraph, is the uncertainty of the future. As good old Robert Burns said, "The best laid plans of mice and men, oftimes go astray." The future can never be certain no matter how well planned.

Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.
This saying as well as "stop and smell the roses"
"You only live once"
To be conscious and hear these words of wisdom
One has to be aware of the message.
Lives change I mean really change in the blink of an eye, always with out advanced notice.
Best to you and yours!

Should my legs give out just enough, I'll do what I have to do and become legal.
Maybe I'll also store rotten eggs for all those illegally parked cars.

I used to feel that way until my legs told me, "Thou shalt go so far and no farther" whereupon I got a handicapped tag. We made all the legal arrangements and burn-em-ups so that the kids can either keep the ashes, or dispose of them, or I dunno, whatever they do with them. We chose some really cool modernistic urns but something tells me, I won't care.

In the words of Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion: "Ain't it the truth."

Me old dino could become legally handicapped but I think it more healthy to limp along past the car often illegally parked in such a reserved parking space. The push bar on a grocery cart helps to prop me up quite well.
I'm not afraid of death for reasons I'm not allowed to discuss here.
I'm thinking of visitors to my dirt nap. So I have a pretty local cemetery picked out that's more into flowers instead of a dreary if not Gothic clutter of markers and monuments.

Awesome testimony...we are on the same page.

You have a great mind ole friend...that's more than most have today that have no pain.

Carl, some years ago my father had terminal liver cancer and was given less than 6 months to live. My very open minded doctor told me to get the book Vitamin C and Cancer. He then treated my father with Vitamin C given IV. My father lived 8 and a half years, and I think May still be alive if he had not had traditional chemo. For something so cheap and harmless, Vitamin C has great potential to help. I get you

MIKE:
Someone once said that we start to die the moment we're born. Kinda puts an ending on it at the beginning, doesn't it?

Honesty with self is the toughest of all.

Replying to the reply:
I can only deal with my own experience. So far, I have learned to live and deal with physical pain. I took myself off opioids, went through a mild withdrawal and found I could cope with pain using OTC meds. The real pain is between the ears. The knowledge that because of age and disabilities, I can not only no longer do many things, but that I cannot even dream of doing the impossible things. If you are unable to take the first step, you'll never get to the tenth. It's depressing espially to a vivid imagination.

And doubly correct about the "questions about the answers." +1

As to that, with the exception of the Randian ideal icons, I think that all of "Us" at some point, stop, take a breath, and realize we've fallen short. Even those who have achieved their goals realize that they set the goals too low. That's the evaluation that you will never give yourself an A+ on. With all his seeming arrogance, I'll bet even Trump can't quite make it to the "+" if he's being honest.

It seems such an un-Randian passage, and yet, it's a peep into the heart of the stainless steel lady.

All true. The shortness of human life is one more mystery added to all the rest of the mysteries of the universe.

You're welcome

There are many and natural ways to ease pain and even to heal, at least for a time, many diseases, providing quality and dignity to one's life...it needn't end in a medicated stuper.
Example, CT. is a state where we can administer cannabis or hemp oil, but in doses only for pain but not for healing and make no mistake, these canabinoids do heal...your body is loaded with canabinoids that would benefit profoundly...it's not about the THC.
Also, there is intravenous vitamin C and lately D as well. High doses of vitamin C is an excepted protocol in New Zealand. It's know to pull one out of the wool, so to speak.
But as you might observe, government and their crony connections do not really want to cure diseases...they just want to profit from the symptoms...after all, that's what allopathic medicine is all about...symptoms but not the causes.

We are all born looking down the barrel of a gun. It is true that when you are young and healthy and strong you do not think much of it -- unless you are a thinker. When I was in college we read The Outsider by Colin Wilson. We debated Antigone. And young people do take their own lives and most people think it is horrible (which it is), but never look deeper into the questions and answers... and questions about the answers.

j_IR1776wg placed the salient quote from Ayn Rand. It is something to think about.

Carl, please elaborate. What is sad and unnecessary? What would not stand for long?

When you look into the abyss the abyss looks back at you. - Nitche

When you are young you are setting and achieving goals in an effort to achieve for yourself and your family. Once enough time passes and you've met your goals (or failed to), the kids are pretty much on their way, and the relationship your in has become mundane you have time( perhaps desire) to think on larger matters (not focus solely on the present) and look into the abyss.

That's my take and, I think, I'm wading through a mid-life critical evaluation.