Nobody really wants to grow old once they grow up. The negative connotations are thrown in our face all the time. Nature needs us to promote the species, so we are naturally attracted to young, healthy looking people who could bear beautiful children.
In today's world there are already lots of children and there are also ways not so healthy people can live long happy lives, so nature isn't the only consideration anymore. Evolution allows us to evolve and some of us have evolved to love minds more than matter, but old age is never going to be fun. Watching a body slowly disintegrate is a horror show in slow motion.
Still, there are advantages to age. I have experienced the history some children are just now reading. I know first hand many of the stories people tell. I've met people who are now icons and I've seen enough to prefer understanding, compassion, and kindness over sophistication and savy-ness.
Would I trade some of those years for smoother skin and joints that don't ache? Probably, but not too many. The first fifty years were tough. The last twenty pretty awesome.
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