It was an odd headline: World's Oldest Person Turns 115 - "I never damaged my body with liquor"

link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14458548/

We'd had discussions about this in various classes of mine. It was living life, and the quality of that life. I don't have a problem with the man, or his age for that matter, but I feel a bit sad for him if anything. There's many joys to be had in life, some of those joys come in natural forms, some of those don't. For those that don't: heroin, cocaine, marijuana, acid, alcohol, etc.

While I don't personally condone the use of any of these things (ignorance is bliss in my opinion), nor do I actually do them, I do acknowledge the fact that each one of these chemicals offers a different experience. One of the more widely accepted drugs is alcohol. A majority of people will get drunk in their lives, but it's an experience nonetheless. Sometimes it can be a good experience, other times, not so much. Alcohol offers an interesting, albeit consequential high that if fostered in the right environment, can offer very pleasant feelings throughout the duration of time it is used. The same goes with smoking cigarettes, which I myself did for about a year up until I decided to quit (taste was unbearable).

So, the discussion in my English class centered around living. Who should we pity, if anyone? A man who has lived 20 years and has had several lifetimes worth of pleasurable experiences through drug use, or the man who has had 115 years of living but has never once dared alter his state of mind in constant fear of the 'risks'.

Whatever the answer is, the debate is an interesting one. To add my own two cents in, I know the risks of drug use and alcohol, and that's why I don't do the former. I don't smoke cigarettes anymore because it began to sink into the category of being a negative experience, but I wouldn't pass up a drink or two if offered because the number of 'bad experiences' I've had with alcohol have been very few and far between. I would never do heroin, or cocaine, or any of the other big drugs - hell - I still won't touch marijuana even though I have nothing against the drug (I like my memory though).

So what really is a life worth living? Is longevity worth deprivation?