Is age just a number?

 

Is age just a number?  Age is a number. but a number that may have some meaning associated with it. We are not immortal after all.  We are born as babies, then we grow up, become adults, often have children of our own, grow old, and eventually die. Then that's it, the final end. But before we get further into that discussion, I'd like to discuss some other matters first.

In Latin American, Africa, and much of Asia, cars, trucks, buses, and other motor vehicles are not

left parked outside overnight. If they were left out there, they might well be gone in the 

morning, or else have their tires, wheels, and maybe even motors missing,  Motor vehicles instead

 are locked inside covered garages or fenced areas with armed guards always on duty overnight. 

 So folks from  other places are often amazed to see our own vehicles here being left outside unattended overnight, both on city and small-town streets. Vehicles are not even made in most developing countries nor would local buyers trust them if they actually were. So they are imported, with heavy duties, and must always be protected, 

 Our foreign visitors may also be surprised to see household doors being left unlocked during the day or even overnight in towns and rural areas like where we are living now. Even in DC, I always left my front door on Capitol Hill unlocked during the day to avoid having to go downstairs from my 3rd-floor office to  open the door.  Inside, what was there to steal? Everyone has the same things. We don't live among pockets of poverty, although in some areas where poverty exists, front doors may actually be locked.  But out here in the rural West Virginia countryside where my son and I are living now, we don't even have any door locks at all. However, we do have a dog and she would bark at any unfamiliar nighttime intruder. 

Now, as for husbands who kill their wives and often blame a mysterious nighttime intruder without any evidence, as has been discussed here before, is that really credible after all?  It would be exceedingly rare in this country to have an intruder enter a private home at night and kill only the female occupant without attacking her husband first, since he would normally be expected to defend her. Those guys who claim that intruders have killed their wives usually have no scratches or cuts on their hands or bodies. So what do you think actually happened?  Was there really any intruder? 

Do wives ever kill their husbands? Not so many, but when they do, they often cite evidence that their husbands have abused them. 

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Some more observations: 

On average, men all over the world are taller, heavier, and with bigger bones and stronger muscles than women.  Yet most women, despite being baby producers and, in most societies, being assigned lesser roles than men, with much smaller incomes and less important jobs, still actually live much longer lives, on average, than men do.  As has been mentioned here before, this is partly due to women having longer telomeres and 2 X chromosomes, instead of just one, as men do. Estrogen in women is also quite protective.

AI Overview

So that's why the world's oldest people have always been women. But could a man ever becomes the world's old person? It's possible to imagine, but has never actually happened yet. 

AI Overview

The world's oldest verified living man is João Marinho Neto of Brazil, who is 113 years old.

The world's oldest verified living woman and oldest living person is 

Ethel Caterham 

of the United Kingdom, who is 117 years old.

The oldest verified person ever is Jeanne Calment of France, who lived for 122 years and 164 days according to Guinness World Records. 

I myself am not aiming to be beat any of these records, because who wants to still be alive when our loved ones, even our own offspring, are likely to have died?  My dad died at age 81, my mother at 92. I certainly would not want to live past 100--at least that's my position right now at age 88, so 12 more years.  If I should actually reach age 100, then ask me again at that point.