(Photo courtesy of fromthebarn.org)
By
Are people living too long?
I am writing as someone who believes that there are too many old people. I don't mean to say that I have anything against the elderly; they certainly have a good deal of knowledge and wisdom to offer society, rather to argue that there are too many of them.
This phenomenon is due, mostly, to the American fear of death, and obsession with eternal life-both of which, I believe, are negative qualities in a society. With the advent of antibiotics and modern medicine, people are living far longer than they otherwise naturally would.
It used to be that when a sixty year old got sick, odds are they were going to die. However now, thanks to great advancements in science, when a sixty year old gets sick he (or she) can simply walk to the nearest pharmacy and pick up a quick fix drug. Or, if the sickness is more severe, he may simply schedule an appointment with a doctor and receive any number of medications to remedy the sickness, and continue on living. This can continue on until an individual is literally dying right in front of you. Old people today are decaying on a daily basis, living until their bodies fail them. When a person trips, they should not break their hip-that's just not natural, when that happens, it's time to die.
It's time for life expectancy to drop to a reasonable age, somewhere around sixty-five, then we can all get back to living enviably in the short amount of natural time we have.
- Will McQuilkin, freshman, English/Communication
Choose your words
We are all quite educated here at U.P. We should have big enough vocabularies where we can stop throwing words around like bitch and slut. You really want to insult someone? Try crack-nobbed fool or pox-infected mumper. Better yet? Try being nice. Someone cuts you off in line at the Commons? Let it go- are you really in that big of a rush? And if you greet your friends by calling them ho- what are you saying about your friends to everyone else around you? If they're really your friends, shouldn't you want to treat them in a loving, respectful way? Stop the name-calling, stop the swearing, buy a dictionary and speak like the educated adult you are.
- Katarina Ferber, senior, Nursing
