“A few extra years”

More Todd May. This could be a rationale for unhealthy living, at precisely the time of life when its opposite is most crucial… but possibly also least subject to one's control. I'd say "a few extra years" at the end of the road is nothing to take lightly. Taking them lightly is something I've noticed some of my young students do, and when they do I usually accuse them of ageism.

But ask me again after I've "retired from all that."

"Another way a person can know what they need but not care about it might be in regard to health as they age. Some older folks will know that, if they want to continue being healthy, they need to cut back on sugar or see a doctor regularly or start exercising more. But they don't, because they don't really care enough to do so. This example is a complicated one, though. For some, neglecting their health is probably not a matter of laziness but of another need: to let go of some of the ongoing concerns that have characterized their lives. For many of us, life is extraordinarily regimented. We are told what we need to do for our education, our jobs, our health, our child-rearing, even what we should definitely check out on vacation. When we retire from all that, there is something to be said for sacrificing a few years of life for living more heedlessly. Put another way, it may be that for many of us the need for unconstrained living is more important than the need for a few extra years of life."

— Care: Reflections on Who We Are (Philosophy: The New Basics) by Todd May
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