I'm 42. Back when I was a kid, I noticed certain trends. Old people would tell me "Don't take up smoking....." I'd notice they seemingly HATED smoking. Hated paying for cigarettes. Their lungs were seemingly nonfunctional with how hard they coughed at a moments notice for no reason. I saw no benefits, and everyone smoked when I was a kid. They all hated it, and they all said not to start.

I figured there must be some wisdom to those words, and now as an adult, I've never been addicted to smoking. I'm better off for it.

When I was a kid, all my dads friends told me not to start drinking. When I looked at their lives, I saw a bunch of sad pathetic losers, whose wives seemed to despise them. Their kids didn't respect them. They seemingly had no control over their own lives with how much they drank. One of them was so drunk that he pissed his pants, sitting on his couch, and he didn't even know he was doing it. Many of them said "Don't start drinking." And looking at these losers I figured there must be something to it, if being an alcoholic leads you to this.

And throughout all my life, extremely elderly people will have a random various health issue. And while suffering through whatever that health issue is, I'll be told by an elderly person "Don't get old."

I'm unclear what to do with this information. Are they suggesting suicide? Am I reading the situation correctly, or is there a fountain of youth I'm unaware of?