We have been so successful in the past century at the art of living longer and staying alive that we have forgotten how to die. Too often we learn the hard way. As soon as the baby boomers pass pensionable age, their lesson will be harsher still.

A lot of baby boomers are baby bongers.

The baby boomers are getting older, and will stay older for longer. And they will run right into the dementia firing range. How will a society cope? Especially a society that can't so readily rely on those stable family relationships that traditionally provided the backbone of care?

The one thing that centenarians have in common is uncommon appreciation. They aren’t whiners. They are grateful.

We like the idea of living a long, happy life, but no one wants to grow old. Old age scares the heck out of us.

Most 'Monty Python' fans are, of course, baby boomers, who have long been a nostalgic lot and are growing more so as they totter toward old age.