You Either Live Long or Die Young, and There Is Nothing You Can Do About It
On November 26, 2024, Guinness World Records announced that the world's oldest living man, Britain's John Tinniswood, had died the previous day at a nursing home in Southport, in northwest England, at the age of 112. A statement from his family said: "His last day was filled with music and love," and the family thanked "all those who cared for him over the years."
John Tinniswood believed the secret to his long life was that there was no secret—it was all luck. When a reporter previously asked him why he lived so long, he said something that makes one smile: "You either live long or you die young, and there is nothing you can do about it."
In fact, as he put it, those supercentenarians over 110 recorded by Guinness World Records almost without exception have few rules of longevity to speak of; they live long by luck. But from what I observe in real life, a short life can sometimes be self-inflicted, rather than something, as John Tinniswood said, we are powerless to change.
This long-lived man's open-mindedness and humor are memorable. Though he believed his long life was purely luck, he still advised people to do everything in moderation. He regarded moderation in all things as an important factor in staying healthy, saying: "If you drink too much, eat too much, walk too much, or do too much, you are the one who suffers in the end."
This is very close to the principle of conduct Laozi advocates in the Dao De Jing, and also close to the principle of "plainness and emptiness, spirit held internally" advocated in the great ancient Chinese medical classic, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon (Huangdi Neijing). It is plain to see that, from ancient times to today, people who know how to live share a similar wisdom. Going too far is as bad as not going far enough; the overbearing dragon has cause to regret; stopping at the right point in all things is an important wisdom for living in this world.
John Tinniswood was born on August 26, 1912, in Liverpool, England. He became the world's oldest man in April this year, after the death of the 114-year-old Juan Vicente Pérez of Venezuela. He lived through both world wars; during World War II he held an administrative post in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and later worked as an accountant for the oil giants Shell and BP. He was a lifelong supporter of Liverpool Football Club, and he also loved good food—every Friday he ate fish and chips, but in moderation.
Though longevity is indeed a matter of chance, an untimely death seems to follow certain rules. Strictly speaking, from the moment a person is conceived as a living being, they have already set foot on the road to death; inside the cells there is a built-in program that determines the number of divisions and the time of apoptosis. But in my observation, some people seem to carry their own self-destruct program: they are more prone to pick up the vices that bring fatal disease—substance addictions, or harmful habits that damage health, a love of taking all kinds of worthless risks that accelerate their own death. Though they know these are harmful, they cannot quit and have no wish to.
Keeping good habits may not raise the upper limit of a person's lifespan, but it does help raise the lower limit. It is true that many people die young because they inherited disease-causing genes; but a considerable number of untimely deaths are self-inflicted and could have been avoided. It is just a pity that such people have wrecked their own fate.