In a New York Times editorial several years ago, William Safire wrote an essay entitled, "Why Die?"¹

According to the writer, nothing makes the weak strong or the fearful brave as much as the body's innate drive to stay alive. His point was that the genetic clock is set to run no more than 120 years, although many people would like to live much longer. A government report summarized the will to survive, noting that the inevitability of aging and the specter of dying have always haunted human life, and the desire to overcome age has long been a human dream.²