Who among us has not thought about the cool factor of living forever? Immortality has been an obsession with many cultures throughout history and currently, though we know immortality is unreachable for some time, we want to live as long as we can. Just look at the number of health clubs popping up, the kind of medical treatments available, not to mention the multibillion dollar commercial anti aging industry. When we face the facts, dying is a frightening notion that no sane human looks forward to.
Historic Spanish Intrigue
Back in the initial years of the fifteen hundreds, Ponce de Leon was intrigued by accounts of a magical place in the Caribbean – Bahamian islands specifically – where crystal clear water sprang forth from the earth. When people swam in this spring water they were immediately gifted with youthful immortality and wondrous beauty. Since the intrepid Spanish explorer was no spring chicken, his wish was to locate this island paradise and bathe himself in the special water.
On his own financial ticket he loaded several ships and travelled from Puerto Rico to the Bahamas. He Island hopped trying to find the source of the stories, drinking and swimming in every body of water he came upon to no avail. Eventually his search took him to a treed coastline with flora abounding giving a pleasant fragrance to the area. He believed he had finally realized his dream.
It was an Easter Sunday morn when our brave if not somewhat barmy Spaniard, along with his comrades stepped ashore onto this stunning land. He called the new land “Pascua de Florida”, or Feast of flowers in Spanish. These days we all just know it as Florida and the elderly are still making endless left and right turns all over the state!
We Still Hope For Fountain Of Youth
Just how ridiculous was Ponce in his quest for immortality – from a spring fed pond no less? People today are still looking for ways to slow or beat aging altogether from individuals to major medical schools and private industry. How silly does old Ponce look now?
People the world over are fighting the advance of age any way possible but in North America specifically, the money being spent to look and feel young is staggering. Millions of baby boomers are waking up each morning and shaking their heads in the mirror, combating discouragement due to their appearance. Last year alone, more than two million Americans paid out more than 7 billion bucks for cosmetic surgery procedures. More men than ever are having surgical procedures from facelifts to liposuction and eye lifts. Grandmothers in their seventies and eighties are having facelifts and tummy tucks! These days wallets are opened for:
Botox treatments – Microdermabrasion treatments – Chemical peels – Laser photo rejuvenation treatments and Rogaine to keep and regrow hair back.
Human Growth Hormone Obsession
Today the latest trend is Human Growth Hormone Therapy [or HGH]. The process is meant to reverse your aging body clock. A qualified health practitioner administers injections or trains you to do it yourself on a daily routine at a price tag of about ten thousand dollars annually. Many people have claimed great success with the treatment but these therapies have a dark side with various adverse reactions, some of which are still being evaluated for the harm they generate.
New Age Literature
If you enter any bookstore of note in any industrialized country you will find a huge section devoted to new age reading materials. These books are written by “experts” in their field of study, many renowned authors among them with track records as proof of value, that promote healthful ways to live – and live a very long time. They endorse special diet programs, fitness regimens and supplementation from vitamins to herbs most of us have never heard of.
One fear of living too long is maintaining the ability to continue to trim our ear and nose hair! For that matter, our ears and noses are said to never stop growing…what if we lived to a hundred and fifty? How ridiculous we would all look! There’s more but I digress…
The Immortal Deep Freeze
Occasionally one hears about the rich and famous among us who have their remains frozen at death in the hope that some time in the future, mankind will have finally discovered a means to revive the dead and continue to sustain life. For real! The procedure is known as cryonics and there are private enterprises about that for a fee – a charge of one hundred twenty thousand dollars in one case – will store your dead body frozen from the time of your death until you require a jump start. Right now three of these facilities exist in the US.
When you pass on they acquire your body and place it in a metal container – not unlike a giant cigar tube – fill it with liquefied nitrogen, cooling things to minus 196˚ below zero Celsius, at this time all molecule response stops. Right now there are ninety one individuals in the US undergoing this technique and there are more than one thousand more that are committed to cryonics. They are betting one day they will be revived and live a life of immortality.
No One Is Above Suspicion
I believe if we are all truthful, one time or another we have done something that could be considered “fountain of youth-ish.” When we reach a certain age, different for all of us, we begin to notice aging for the first time. It may be a grey hair we snip off or a patch of it we colour. When our eye sight begins to fade we might forego wearing glasses since they age us. Our first wrinkle or crease causes night tremors.
We stock up on creams and lotions to hydrate our skin and attempt to expunge all signs of early aging. The fight is clearly on. We begin to gain weight so we exercise [or not], we begin to have health issues requiring lifestyle modifications. Supplements are consumed to boost immunity or build up antioxidants that repel free radicals – terms we were unfamiliar with until we began waking up with creaking bones and various health concerns. We spend dollars on staying young but is the effort worth the energy expended?
Staring Down One’s Own Mortality
This brings to mind a personal health saga. Some years ago I was living the life of Reilly in the best physical condition of my life and full of youthful vigor and energy. Life was going in the right direction and my spouse and I were happy. Late one night when I went to the bathroom I began passing significant quantities of blood in my stool. Gripped with fear and stupidly speculating the worst case scenarios, I made an appointment with my Physician.
He ran me through a gamut of tests and in a week or so I was told on the phone they found “something” in my x-rays and that the doctor wanted to see me. Well, the fear was consuming and after further tests, a specialist told me I had Inflammatory bowel disease – Crohns and Ulcerative colitis to be exact. It was difficult news but compared to the alternative I was grateful it was chronic and though incurable it was not the big “C”.
The entire experience at a relatively young age was quite sobering and coming face to face with my mortality several times in my life now I have to admit I have been changed. We never know when our ticket will be punched and we are never going to be truly ready to die. I was not ready to die with a lot of living left to do priorities become crystal clear.
One Life To Live Is More Than A Soap Opera!
Today after twenty six years since my first brush with transience, I take life as it comes [for the most part] and I try and lead a healthy life with my physician monitoring me regularly. Life is not all roses for certain but I am grateful for each day I’m above ground or not squeezed into a cigar tube! The clock seemed to slow down for me. What was once important or critical today does not carry the same weight. I cherish relationships and seem to have a better understanding of aging than I once had. I speak the truth to everyone and do so with heart wide open to each word both given and received.
Though I can live without the trauma of another frightening episode in my life, I will try and learn from my past experiences and remind myself of the gratitude I felt and still feel. As much as I once was determined to live forever –or at least a very long time, I now know it is ultimately beyond our control regardless of what we do to put off the inevitable. Living one day at a time is in fact a meaningful statement since we only have one life to live. It makes perfect sense that we should put our energy into enjoying what we have been given and lightening up on our personal quest for the fountain of youth and its mythical promise.
Wed, May 12, 2010
Anti Aging, Immortality, Longevity