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Only a few decades ago, Korean people used to have a huge birthday party called ‘Hwan-Gab’ when one turns into 60, because it was hard thing to live longer than that in the past. But these days, it is quite common to be around 60’s or even 70’s. There are several reasons for extended life span: advance in medical studies, basic medical education to non-professionals, and abundant supplies.
In ancient Greece, one famous doctor thought blood is origin of all illness. Therefore, he extracted patients’ blood, which leads to death in unexpected way. Also, it is shocking to know that it hasn’t been long since doctors washed their hands before they examine or operate patients. These things are no longer true thanks to advance in medical studies. Doctors become more ready to the illness they confront. So people are now able to survive from diseases that were once thought incurable. Which contributed to prolonged human life.
One cannot always go to hospital whenever they are ill. So it is essential to know several first aids in case of emergency. In Korean traditional society, when child gets stomachache, his grandma rubs a pin in her hair and pinches his finger with it. Although pinching is indeed effective, the pin covered with hair oil can cause infection. The wisdom of the old ones can also be an ignorance, which can turn into serious illness. This was solved by modern education, which promoted non-professionals’ basic medical knowledge. And saved a lot of people from accidental death.
The other major reason of longer life span is abundant supplies: food, medicine, etc. This is due to Industrial Revolution – faster transportation. In the past, the people in agricultural regions have to starve while crops grow. But as transportation evolved, people can move foods and other supplies from place to place without worrying about corruption. Eventually, people can get nearly everything around the world in much shorter time. Which means they can enjoy more bountiful life and didn’t have to suffer from starvation.
To sum up, humans life expanded by their own effort (advance in various fields, such as medical studies, education, and transportation). So in my opinion, we should celebrate ourselves for living in 100 old era. However, as people’s life span become longer, the number of old people increased as well. Which followed with serious problems such as lack of job and increased social insurance fee. Therefore, we should not just celebrate but also think about solutions to new problems evolved from longer life. |