A Long Life

Here in Asia, a long life is a blessing.  It is perhaps something that many people of the world would want as well, except for suicide killers.  While a long life lived happily and healthfully is desired, one that is full of pain and strife may not be as pleasant [1] but many in the latter group do seek medical care to become better, hoping to return soon to their normal daily lives.

The question asked here is whether a long life is God's blessing or God's punishment.  This blogger thinks that it can be either or both.  When a life is long and the nonagenarians and the centenarians stay healthy, are well cared for by their relatives and caretakers and are content, then their long lives are blessed lives.  On the other hand, those who live long lives but cannot die could very well be a punishment, not only for them but for their family members.  The nonagenarians that are punished can suffer themselves, watch their loved ones suffer, or both. [2]  Thus, wishing a person a long life can be either something that is desired or a curse.

What about someone living a long life who is cared for in certain ways but is also suffering as a result of illness?  Is that a blessing or a punishment?  In this blogger's opinion, that is a blessing rather than a mixed blessing, for he sees the long life as the beginning of purgatory while in the flesh. This blogger had read somewhere that the Blessed Virgin Mary had indicated that suffering in life, however difficult it may be, is far easier than the suffering in Purgatory after death.  In either case, eternal joy is guaranteed, whether the purging of sins starts in life or in Purgatory.

[1] The topic of assisted-suicide is not relevant to this entry.

[2] A hypothetical example of a nonagenarian being punished is having him see his own glory being tarnished by his sons, and seeing one of his son's reputation being trashed for transforming the world into a dangerous place because of the abuse of his power while he had it and another one of his sons trying to acquire power being rejected by the people in his own party.