Nearly all living things share certain basic
characteristics. These characteristics include:

1) reproduction
2) growth
3) metabolism
4) movement
5) responsiveness
6) adaptation

Not every organism exhibits all these features
and even nonliving things may show some of them.
However, these characteristics as a group outline the
basic nature of living things.

The human life force seems at first sight to be purely
a matter of biology.

But the sequence of birth, childhood, maturity, old
age, and death is also a social one, for its length,
stages, challenges, and opportunities depend very much
on the society in which one lives.

How long we live for example is
strongly influenced by social as well as biological factors.

In modern industrialised societies we associate the idea
of death with the aged, but in traditional pre-industrialised
societies more people died in childhood than in old age.

Thanks to such social factors as modern medicine, improved
nutrition, and higher standards of sanitation, infectious
diseases such as smallpox, diphtheria and cholera no
longer kill more than half of all children before the age
of ten.

Every society imposes its own conceptions of a life course upon
the physical process of growing up and growing old.
Consequently the period from birth to death is arbitrarily
sliced up into a series of stages. Each offering distinctive
rights and responsibilities to the relevant age group.

The number, length, and content of these stages vary from
one society to another. But each society must socialise
its members into accepting and effectively performing
their changing roles of each stage in the sequence from early
childhood until death.

LOUDmouth,

Congratulations! You almost understood what I have been saying.

Signed, your favourite Arts grad.

Foxy,

I think you would make a great sociologist. I know you have done cultural studies and you definitely have a working knowledge of classical sociology viz Marx, Weber and Durkheim.

Your list of characteristics associated with LIFE all point to one thing: FEEDERS.

We're all, including plants, animals, viruses, etc., just a bunch of feeders.

I think it is a good definition and one that explains the presence of Life: Why are we here? Because we're feeders. It's that simple.

Haven't you wondered why Life regenerates at the onset of Spring? Why not the end of Autumn?

Why are we 60% water? Why are our tears salty?

But of course the advantage we humans have over other life forms who compete for food is as you have described above, CULTURE. So we have advanced beyond being mere feeders. But for how long?

NNS asked in his opening post what has made life
worth living?

Living has made life worth it.

The relationships I have created with members of
my family and the way I maintain and build
those relationships add meaning to my life.
Same goes for friends, neighbours, and others.

Helping is another factor in my life that is important
to me. Being able to lend a hand to people in need
however drastic or trivial it may be. Sometimes all
that's needed is being a good listener.

Working towards achieving goals - gives my life
meaning. As does growing, learning new things,
improving my knowledge. Also imagining new
possibilities finding humour and joy, playing with
my grand-children. Letting go of restraints.

And much much more.

Well, my life compared to most herein, is essentially unremarkable. I've only ever had two occupations - the Military with two tours overseas; Malay/Thai Border, and South Vietnam. After my military days, I joined the police force and spent the next over 32 years in that job, with the pleasure of locking up several of NSW most dangerous criminals.

Now I'm nearly eighty, I await my call at the front door of God's waiting room. Is there any point in life? I dunno? I look at my friend and fellow contributor HASBEEN, and his very full life, and I wonder, did I miss out someone along the way?

Dear O Sung Wu,

You've had a remarkable life.

My wish is that you'd write a book about
what you went through both about your experiences
as a police officer and your war experiences.

I for one would gladly buy and read it.

Take care.
Stay safe.