A Meaning of Life

Okay, firstly some disclaimers. This article, which I feel is not one of my best anyway, borrows some ideas that I wrote in a blog for my dad's company years ago. He's a journalist and wrote a similar article for a British newspaper and I've since seen other people make similar points but I assure you the ideas that I write about are mine, in the incredibly rare case that anyone is delving that deeply into it.

The idea came to me after watching a TED talk given by a man named Aubrey de Grey who reckons humans can live for hundreds of years in the future. He seemed to include himself in this and I honestly thought, fascinating as it is, that I couldn't think of anything worse. There comes a point, surely, where you cease to "live" and merely "exist." And that is something I don't ever want to do. My dad's parents spent years dying in care homes and it was incredibly painful to watch them have to go through that. My Grandma, a once very outgoing person and someone I was very close to, also suffered from crippling vascular dementia. It's awful to watch somebody go through that. And everyone who goes through it said at one point "I'd kill myself if I was ever diagnosed" but it isn't as easy as that. And the same people will then tell you that that is why euthanasia should be legalised. My response to that is that I am in support of it personally but not ethically. You just cannot risk the outcome of people taking advantage of it. But the point is, it's a horrible thing to go through. My dad often quotes Billy Connolly being told by his doctor that if he doesn't stop drinking and smoking, he will shorten his life by ten years and him responding 'good, that'd be the ten years I'm dropping to bits in a care home' ... or something (I can't find the exact quote anywhere, or in fact any evidence that he ever said it, but he's right).

And that's just it isn't it. He enjoys those things and what is the point of stopping them in order to have ten miserable years? The meaning of life, surely, is to enjoy it. And I think, to be fair, we all agree on that deep down. Call me a cynic but even most do-gooders who dedicate their entire life to helping others, do it because that's what they enjoy doing. You only get one life, so you must make the most of it. And for some maybe that does mean changing the world, or curing cancer, or becoming President, or joining the military. Do whatever you want to do, I'd say. But I turn now to the people who are missing that point. The do-gooder nun, for example, who isn't helping others because she wants to, but because she's trying to guarantee a place in heaven if it exists. Or the health fanatic who actually depises every minute of exercise and eating healthily but do it because they're worried about dying prematurely. Or the people that work all day every day most of their lives. Not enjoying it but because they think that that will give life value in the future. News flash, you could get hit by a car tomorrow. Focus on what you actually want from life.

Personally, I'm ok with my lot. I'd like a better job, but I don't want my life to be my work. I'm grateful for things like Vocal that allow me to do what I enjoy very easily. I'm not the healthiest person ever, but I'm happy. I would never set foot in a gym, but I would also never take drugs. Everyone's different, but as long as you're happy. I'm not really a fan of YOLO culture, for example, despite what I am saying, but I intend to make the distinction between that opinion and this clear in a follow-up article. The point is, I'm living the life I want to live. I choose to do that.

And for many people, of course, getting married and having children is an important aspect of achieving happiness and meaning in life. This is something I think Aubrey de Grey is missing, as he said to adapt to very long life we would have to stop having children! Now, some may criticise me as a hypocrite for saying people waste their lives working or exercising unhappily because I would never rush into a relationship and would be single for a long time in order to find the right person. But that isn't a painful investment, see. I'm very happy on my own. And I'd rather spend the last ten years of my life married to the right person than spend most of it married to someone I settled for. People who get married because they think they need to are making a painful investment I would say. And I know it's not as easy for women. But society also needs to stop pressuring women who haven't had children by the age of 35 as if they will never achieve meaning in life.

We're living in a difficult time, but I see so much worry everywhere that I honestly think is unnecessary. I think that in many aspects our reaction to COVID-19 has done as much damage to society as the disease itself. The horrendous handling of education in the UK is something that is going on as I write this and it has left thousands of deserved students with ruined lives. Whatever all their respective meanings in life were, they have been hijacked now. We, as a society, need to be realists, understand that this is something we may have to live with, and remember what life is really all about.