Old machines and the things we won't let die

Saw that NASA's asking the public for ideas to keep Hubble alive a little longer. I get it. Every locomotive I've run has a day when the paperwork says retire it and the old girl still has a good pull in her, and you'd do anything to buy her one more season. But there comes a point where keeping it going is less about the machine and more about us not knowing how to say goodbye. Four in the morning and I'm feeling philosophical about a telescope I've never seen. That's where I'm at.