There Might be a Cure for Some of What We Call Old Age

   How about a study of why muscles cease to work? Do they lose their elasticity? Are they too weak? What?
   In the case of old people, we often simply call it the deterioration of the body. And, it seems to me, rather than treating it clinically, rather than studying the problem and trying to find a cure -- we simply dismiss it as what happens when you get old.
   I say, treat it as something that needs a cure. We've searched for cures for most every disease, and been successful in retarding the development of many of those conditions. Why not this? Your reply might be that once old age sets in, it sets in, and cannot be conquered, and that the deterioration of the muscles is strictly a matter of being old. It can't be solved.
   I disagree.
   I ask, I say, is it a matter that the muscles no longer receive the energy they need to make them operate fully? Is it that the physical composition of what is happening when the muscles break down? I say, treat this like a disease, and study it, and there might be an answer.
   Many among the elderly are restricted to wheelchairs. Others use canes. And those that don't have wheelchairs and don't have canes are more limited in their mobility than they were when they were younger. I'm assuming it is often because of a condition that comes upon their muscles, but you tell me.
   Can a cure be found? If you say, "No," if you say, "Just accept the fact God intended us to be old when we are in fact old," I will say, remember Kitty Hawk, for folks once said, if God intended man to fly, he would have given him wings.
   I say, maybe we can find a cure. Maybe we can eradicate much of the need for wheelchairs and canes, and make it so many men and women can sprint as fast at age 90 as they could when they were 19.
   Laugh, but I think it possible.

(Note: Slightly edited 6/21/18)