"What a shame, he was so young."
 

I just said this phrase to my boss, who told me that a friend of hers had recently died of a heart attack. He was 57 years old.

Which led me to thinking, at what age do we stop saying "he was so young?" And then what do we say? "He lived a full life?"

74

Depends...

I say when he gets winkles, after all winkles shows wisdom...

95

I don't know about the young part, but I don't think I'll be happy with however long I live because I'm sure there will always be something I wish I could do or had done. So, basically, life's too short.

I think you stop being "so young" when you become "old enough to know better".

"He was so young!"
"No, he was definitely old enough to know better."

You can't exactly say that if a seventy-five year old dies of a heart attack, but you know it applies in many other cases.

I think that the young part comes from the person stating it. People who my mom thought were old when she was in her 30s she now says are young.

I don't think there's anything cryptic about it. The average life expectancy is 75 years old (American white males). Younger than that, and you're "so young." Older, and you've "lived a full life."

Now, granted - the life expectancy is an average which takes into account premature deaths and accidents. So really, once you make it to 75, there's no reason not to expect you can go another decade or so. But if you don't, at least you already did better than half of your peers.

I think your considered old when you cant get it up anymore. At that stage you can only look back and hope you can say "I have lived a full life"

And so, this is why we need to enjoy our lives now to the fullest because our days are numbered. No doubt at least few of us won't be here in perhaps a another week or a month.

I intend to be gone long before I need to use my Social Security (& that's changing daily too thanks to the some creative government spending).