The Meaning of Life

            As human beings we often find ourselves comparing and contrasting the things around us whether we realize we're doing it or not. The reason we compare and contrast is so that we know what the best decision for us to make is. We compare and contrast options all the time whether that decision is regarding what the best camera for us to buy is, what college is best for us to attend, or even if it’s worth it to stay up and watch a marathon of our favorite show. In his Op-Ed Roger Cohen compares and contrast what sort of life is worth living while analyzing the dietary habits of two rhesus monkeys.

     The monkeys discussed in Cohen's essay are Canto and Owen. These two monkeys have lived in the same environment, yet they have lead very different lives all because of their different diets. Canto who is 27 years old has lived a life of restrictions because he has been forced to intake 30% percent less calories than a monkey normally would. On the other hand, 29-year-old Owen has lived a life of relative bliss all because he has been able to eat whatever he liked. In his essay, Cohen mostly highlights the differences that these two monkeys have experienced that. For instance, in his essay Cohen writes, "Canto looks drawn, weary, ashen and miserable in his thinness, mouth slightly agape, features pinched, eyes blank, his expression screaming. On the other hand, Cohen writes that Owen appeared to be, “a happy camper with a wry smile, every inch the laid-back simian, plump, eyes twinkling, full mouth relaxed, skin glowing, exuding wisdom as if he’s just read Kierkegaard and concluded that “Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backward.”

            In his Op-Ed, Cohen argues that a life of restrictions is not a life worth living. Cohen believes that there is no point to living a long life if we have to be miserable every step of the way, and I have to agree.  If given the choice of living thirty years of happiness and bliss or living to 109 while suffering from Alzheimer’s, I would choose to die at thirty every time. Really the decision is simple, quality while always be more important than quantity. Our lives shouldn’t be measured by the number of days we live, but by the way we live. We all have to die eventually, so why live a life filled with restrictions? I think the Roman’s said it best when they said carpe diem.