The spirit of hope is the spirit of life 

  With old age comes the fading of dreams, the fading of hope. Nary an old person has a dream for their future. Nary a one is still throwing open the window each morning, greeting the crow of the rooster with a shout of excitement for the day ahead. 

   No, dreams flee from the aged. They no longer speak of how some day, some way, they are going to do this or that. They no longer await the next horizon, but instead await the setting of the sun. 

   We cease to seize the moment, and instead we seize up.

   We lose our passions, and then we lose our lives. With the demise of hope, comes the demise of life. With no promising future, we soon cease to have a future at all.

   Death is the letting go of life. I will wonder, then, if it is not also the letting go of dreams. So, if you would live a long life, never quit dreaming.