¿Cómo saber cuándo se es lo suficientemente viejo para morir?

Foto tomada de The Guardian. Author and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich at her home in Alexandria, Virginia, on 2 March. Photograph: Stephen Voss for the Guardian.

Hoy me he encontrado con esta noticia que se hace eco de un libro sobre la vejez, la enfermedad y la muerte escrito por la científica, escritora y activista Barbara Ehrenreich.

When do you know you're old enough to die? Barbara Ehrenreich has some answers

“Part polemic, part autobiographical, Ehrenreich — who holds a PhD in cellular immunology — casts a skeptical, sometimes witty, and scientifically rigorous eye over the beliefs we hold that we think will give us longevity.

She targets the medical examinations, screenings and tests we’re subjected to in older age as well as the multibillion-dollar “wellness” industry, the cult of mindfulness and food fads.

These all give us the illusion that we are in control of our bodies. But in the latter part of the book, Ehrenreich argues this is not so. For example, she details how our immune systems can turn on us, promoting rather than preventing the spread of cancer cells.

When Ehrenreich talks of being old enough to die, she does not mean that each of us has an expiration date. It’s more that there’s an age at which death no longer requires much explanation.”

¿Tiene mucho sentido prolongar la vida a cualquier coste cuando se llega a cierta edad?

No soy capaz de dar una respuesta a esta pregunta. Pero sí puedo decir que me dejó pensando sobre la relación que la sociedad actual tiene con la enfermedad y la muerte.