How long do you want to live?

The first question people tend to ask palm readers or fortune tellers, is ‘how long shall we live?’ And while we know that all is destined in the hands of the Almighty, still we make an effort to know.
I am not sure how that will help. If we know we will live longer, will we take it easy and relax, thinking that we can always do something tomorrow? What is the hurry for anyway? What if we know that our lifeline indicates a short life, will we benefit from each day and every moment to realise our dreams and achieve our goals?
Who would have thought that while guns and bombs that we were so scared of have gone silent while an ugly tiny virus is harvesting human lives in an unprecedented manner.

Searching for the elixir
As long as I remember, scientists were searching for the elixir of life, a potion that gives its consumer, immortality and eternal youth.
The elixir was also the main plot of some famous novels and movies such as, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Eternal Diva and Doctor Who.
I do not understand why would someone look for an eternal life of the physical body on earth? What is easy in this world to eternalise?
Once the normal span of life is consumed, it would be a good time to leave, and let the next generation to take over. It matters how many good deeds one can take with for a better eternal life on the soul in the Kingdoms of God, not the material wealth and the joy-related to the material world.

Human and age factor
On a lighter note, there is this old story about the human age factor. It is said that when age limit was distributed, humans were given 30years, and the same limit was given to the donkey, the dog and the monkey. The human complained, that as the dominant creation, he should be granted more years. He was then asked to go and bargain with the other three. The donkey offered half of his life claiming he did not need more years of hardship while working, the dog and the monkey did the same, hence the human life increased by 45 years.
The story ends by revealing a bitter truth that as humans, the first 30 years are usually the best, in the next 15, one works as hard as a donkey, the other 15 years runs around like a dog protecting his belongings and keeping an eye on his family, and in the the last 15, he becomes like a monkey. He or she jumps around and makes faces to please his grandchildren.
Back to the elixir of life, it is also alleged that it cures all kinds of diseases, we need this elixir now!