\u201cDubbed the immortal jellyfish,\u201d the paper reports, \u201cthe tiny sea creature can turn its biological clock backward and revert to a clump of juvenile cells\u2026\u201d In other words, when the going gets tough, they simply become newborns.<\/p>\n
Having just celebrated my 74th<\/sup> birthday, I must admit to a certain interest in this subject. It recently came up, in fact, during a telephone conversation with my 38-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cDad,\u201d she said, \u201cI have to ask you a question, and I hope you won\u2019t get mad.\u201d It seems her mother-in-law\u2014slightly older than me\u2014had undergone a nearly fatal heart surgery that raised uncomfortable questions. \u201cSo I was wondering,\u201d my daughter went on cautiously, \u201cwhether, when you die, you\u2019ll leave anything to me or only to your other<\/em> family?\u201d<\/p>\n The question is more complicated than meets the eye because, while my oldest daughter is nearing 40, my youngest isn\u2019t yet three. Not to mention a 12-year-old son whose mother is only slightly older than the daughter asking questions.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I will,\u201d I quickly assured her. \u201cWe\u2019ll just have to work out the details.\u201d<\/p>\n The truth is that I intend to walk my youngest daughter down the aisle. Or, more likely, have her push me down the aisle in a wheelchair. Either way, I don\u2019t expect to die anytime soon.<\/p>\n Ah, but recent headlines have called that assumption into question: Life expectancy in the United States, it seems, has experienced a precipitous decline. While the average American lived to 79 in 2019, according to the New York Times<\/em><\/a>, that dipped to 76 in 2021. The drop was \u201chistoric,\u201d one expert told the paper, attributing it to COVID and other factors including a rise in accidental deaths and drug overdoses.<\/p>\n But, hey, I don\u2019t live in the US anymore; perhaps that\u2019s cause for optimism. Well, not exactly: Philippine life expectancy, it turns out, is just 71.66, a number I\u2019ve already exceeded.<\/p>\n Ok let\u2019s discuss quality. \u201cI\u2019d seen those \u2018over the hill\u2019 birthday cards on store shelves, poking fun at crackling crones and forgetful geezers,\u201d one of those crackling crones wrote in a Boston Globe<\/em><\/a> essay published last year. \u201cWe live in a youth-obsessed society\u2026 Age discrimination pervades every aspect of our culture\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, it\u2019s true; here in the Philippines I\u2019ve felt more respected, honored, cared for\u2014even admired<\/em>\u2014than I ever did as a senior citizen in the United States. And yet there is still that unquenchable thirst for more.<\/p>\n Perhaps it\u2019s an impossible dream. Even jellyfish, one expert averred, are not immune to misfortune. \u201cThe fate of everything in the ocean\u2026 is to be eaten at some point,\u201d insists<\/a> Monty Graham, a professor of integrative biology and director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography.<\/p>\n Not entirely unlike humans.<\/p>\n And yet, and yet, do I still want to carry on forever? You bet\u2014just let me soar like a jellyfish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n ________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n David Haldane\u2019s latest book, \u201cA Tooth in My Popsicle and Other Ebullient Essays on Becoming Filipino,\u201d is now available on Amazon<\/a> and Lazada<\/a>. A former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, where he contributed to two Pulitzer Prize-winning stories, Haldane is an award-winning author, journalist and radio broadcaster with homes in Joshua Tree, California, and Northern Mindanao, Philippines. This column appears weekly in the Mindanao gold Star Daily.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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