While skimming through The News-Gazette the other day I came across a short story and picture of a Champaign man who was going to celebrate his 105th birthday in a few days.

I was incredibly amazed by just reading the headline. I mean, how often do you hear of a 104-year-and-360-something-day-old man living in your community?

The picture even further astonished me. Before this, I would always associate withered and heavily wrinkled beings when thinking of people who had lived a century or longer. One of his kids, however, attributed his fairly young appearance to a daily ritual of rubbing a concoction mainly consisting of baby oil and black pepper.

His children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great grandchildren surrounded him. Imagine being able to meet your great-great grandpa.

This man also lived a fairly rigorous lifestyle in his youth, often having to drag more than 100 pounds of cotton a day.

Our lifestyles seem incredibly relaxed in comparison, yet most of us will probably not be around for our 105th birthday, let alone our 100th.

When I was younger I heard many adults talk in passing about the health, both mental and physical, that was needed to make it past a century. I immediately imagined myself surpassing these odds and constantly being surrounded by little kids asking what it was like in the good old days.

Gasps would accompany stories of our huge computers and MP3 players. People would be shocked at how unstylish and just plain old our cars were. My stories and I would be the object of interest of many people.

That dream had a very short life. I began reading more mature stories, some even dealing with characters having to contend with the loneliness of a long life. I eventually decided that maybe living to 100 was probably not for me, and there were probably more worthwhile things to strive for.

My brother apparently came to that same conclusion. Just a few months ago he jokingly expressed his strong desire to avoid reaching an age at which he would no longer be able to take care of himself without assistance.

And while medical technology might have advanced enough to let many from our generation live past 100, a longer life expectancy is not generally a good thing. There will be extra mouths to feed and just more resources being used. There are many examples in history of problems that arose from a sudden increase of life expectancy.

Even so, I would still welcome the chance to celebrate my own 100th birthday. I mean seriously now, wouldn't it be incredible to meet your great-great grandchildren?