I have been friends for a long time with an elderly gentleman who is a lawyer. He has reached the age where I would think that most people would want to retire. He tells me, though, that he never wants to retire, that he plans to work until his 80th birthday and then he plans to kill himself! I can’t even imagine making plans like that! I would LOVE to retire and just putter around and take life as it comes. He’s a multi-millionaire, so it’s not a matter of him running out of money, it’s a matter of him feeling that he needs to work in order to have “purpose” in life. And he feels that once he reaches the age of 80, he will no longer be able to be a productive member of society. He told me that he’s a member of the Hemlock Society, which is a group that helps people learn how to kill themselves.
This whole thought process mortifies me! I just can’t even imagine living my life with these kinds of plans in my mind! Gives me the creeps!