Hi. For old age, think of dependency, weakness, vulnerability, loss of respect, etc. For death, think of the absolute end of your physical and mental existence. Please vote your personal opinion on the poll, but if so inclined please share your opinion on which one you think most folks in the US fear more.
Occurs to me I should clarify something. Do you fear being dependent, weak, vulnerable, and without respect more, or being physically and mentally dead more? Have to put it this way, because we all know we will be dead, but we may not think we'll have the old age I describe. So, "as if"...
Most people should say they are afraid of death more. I think if you handed someone two different pills today, one that kills you and one that makes you weak and frail, and they forced you to pick one, most would not pick the death pill.
Ok, peil, if you're Christian and took a suicide pill, you may not get to Heaven, right? But otherwise I would think a Christian would pick death (and so, Heaven) over being in a nursing home, in Depends, getting spoonfed puree five times a day.
This is a perplexing question. As we age, friends and family members begin to die off if we are fortunate enough to stave off the grim reaper by that time. So, the quality of your life in old age has a lot to do with matters relating to loneliness. If a strong family and support group are in place, then old age is not to be feared. It is the rare individual that can live the hermits life.
Depends on how you define old age. Everybody likes to think they'll be a picture of health all the way up to that last breath where they're shooting a load into their young lover, or sinking a 80 foot put on the 18th green giving them the best golf score in their life. If that's the case, give me a long life. However, if we're talking about sitting in my diaper, drooling in my oatmeal, and a good day is considered I know my name and what day of the week it is...I'm ready to check out and see what's next.
I'm with you, but the "shooting a load" image is pretty strong, lol. If that's old age, the OP's "as if", then yeah, I prefer death. Maybe the decrepit are hoping for a medical miracle...