Death by and on itself is indifferent, boring, you can't really do something about it, it's a blank, mute, void transaction. Old age though is a different beast. The greatest ailment of our conscious lives boils down to this:

There is (usually) no dignity in ageing

Society will warmingly wrap a drooling baby around the comfort blanket of appreciation and will do the exact opposite for the same drooling baby once transmigrated into a drooling senile adult.

Good post! You seem to have an affinity towards Castaneda. How does he fare in your books?