Longevity

In addition to adventure tourism, one of the newest shade covers offered to an anxious public are longevity tours. It’s a mixture of ‘out of your comfort zone’ tourism with a hint of healthy living tips incorporated into the whole expensive package.

It’s one of the newest industries to raise its capitalistic head in the never-ending search for eternal life. That is, the illusion that they (whoever is advertising at the moment) have finally found Valhalla (Viking heaven), the Fountain of Youth (sorry, Ponce De Leon) and/or some magic elixir that assures each of us that ‘we really can get out of this place alive!’

From a daily dose (on BusinessInsider.com) of some middle-aged male hawking longevity caplets to snippets on my Facebook feed, I’m inundated on almost a daily basis with folks who have found the secret to life everlasting. And for only a small amount of money, they’ve got a pill, liquid, AI app, workshop or class that can help you reach that goal too.

It’s an industry that feeds upon itself and never goes out of fashion. News outlets love ‘this stuff’ because it grabs eyeballs minus the gray matter that ought to accompany it. Like the new weight-loss drugs that promise weight loss without the bother of diet and exercise, these old-fashion magic elixirs promise results without any effort. All you need is lots of money and leave your brains at the door.

Dr. Eric Topol, in his heavily-researched book ‘Super Agers’ encapsulates the newest Oklahoma Land Rush of Longevity. In it, he writes:

“There are eight hundred longevity clinics in the United States – even at the prestigious Mayo Clinic. Some charge up to $50,000 per week. There are longevity vacations with intravenous drips; “Rejuvenation Olympics”, a Fountain Life “country club for precision diagnostics”, fitness centers with intravenous antiaging drips; an X-Prize awarding over $100 million to restore at least a decade’s worth of muscle, brain and immune function in older adults; and stem cell clinics for longevity.”

“Then there are the many hundreds of companies developing drugs or interventions to promote lifespan or selling biomarkers to track one’s biological age….. Dr. Topol continues: “I am reminded of a line by Venki Ramakrishnan in ‘Why We Die’: “When they were young, they wanted to be rich, and now that they’re rich, they want to be young.”

There is one point where I do agree with these charlatans of eternal life; that is, health is wealth. An interesting thing happened on my well-traveled road to maturity. My assets, long assumed to be material things and a bank account, morphed into something far more valuable and priceless. Health became paramount and without it everything else pales in comparison.

At any age, all the money in the world doesn’t mean a damn thing if you don’t have your health. And as wealthy as these often-scorned billionaires might be, few of them, if any, can buy their way back to health once it’s gone. Even they aren’t going to ’get out of here alive.’

In retrospect, I’ve been very lucky. I think I’m in fairly good shape simply because I started running early on and never stopped until I was well past 70. After one memorable weekend in the service, I stopped drinking all hard liquor and haven’t had another drop for 67 years. I’ve never smoked (okay, a couple of joints doesn’t count during my wannabe hippie years), and I’ve maintained my weight pretty well. I thought about this phenomenon after finding that more and more of our friends and acquaintances are experiencing health issues at this stage in their lives.

‘Late in life’ issues often prompt a reflective glimpse back in time. The famous Irish poet Oscar Wilde once said, “The final mystery is oneself.” So how does one unravel the mystery of self? It probably can’t happen without self-awareness and self-awareness won’t happen without reflection.

I’m at that point in life where things are starting to happen beyond my control. This old body has been pumping and expanding for seventy-six years. Fortunately, its wear and tear has been relatively minimum. For others an excess of ‘living the good life’ is finally starting to show its consequences. For others, it’s the luck of the draw or the flip side of that event. I mentioned that idea in another blog entitled ‘The Final Tabulation.’

Reflecting back on circumstances or events in one’s life can bring about new insights into your present circumstances. I think reflection is looking inward so one can look back with a broader, more accurate perspective of your current situation in life. Health more than most other events can bring that to the forefront.

As the cliché goes, it’s never too late to begin again. When my mother and stepfather couldn’t dance anymore at ages ninety and eight-two respectively, they took up cards to strengthen their minds. I didn’t recognize it back then but their actions were a powerful motivator for me to keep pressing on.

Assessing what’s really important at this stage of one’s life comes down to the basics. Health, family, friendships and life experiences. All the rest is soon to be outdated, worn out or replaced by this season’s new trend. Stick with the basics and, oh yeah, take time to smell the roses along the way.

Eyes the Color of Fog

Some road trips are more memorable than others. One in particular still sticks prominently in my brain. An excursion along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) to relive my youthful dreams of ‘California Living’ from the shelter of my midwestern upbringing. A taste of the golden state, if you will, when my imagination ran rampant with ‘what ifs’ and ‘if only.’ The old lady with eyes the color of fog was my first introduction to the West Coast Experience.

She was an old lady, dressed in black, moving slowly along the overlook with her walker. Finding a spot to rest, she slumps down in her chair and looks around. She had sad eyes the color of fog yet brandished a weak smile which seemed to welcome inquiries. I wanted to, at once; call her over to my picnic table and at the same time hoped someone would appear to take care of her.

As she stared blankly across the ocean, her eyes washed over mine several times but never stuck. She seemed lost in her own thoughts…and perhaps dreams of times past. It didn’t seem right to disturb her. Eventually the woman’s daughter came by to retrieve her and they left. A hundred thousand stories and ‘what if’s’ just slowly shuffling away.

I was perched above a three-tiered cluster of multi-million-dollar homes in Dana Point. The last time I visited the overlook there was only one row of homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Rumor had it that Arnold Schwarzenegger has/had a home whose front was all glass and showcased his gym equipment. True or not, it made for a good story.

I’m told there was a fire sale back in 2008 during the recession. One could steal an ocean-view lot for only eight to ten million dollars; much less than their pre-recession prices of double that amount. Now those homes were packed tighter than sardines with zero lot lines and a perfectly magnificent view of their neighbor’s roofline. Welcome to the sometimes foggy, always crazy, coast of California.

This coastal sojourn of mine was a two-and-a-half-day meander through old Spanish ruins, art-filled streets of an old Hippie hangout and cleansing my mind with a sunset at Crystal Cove.

Mission San Juan Capistrano has been home to many indigenous and native peoples and now swallows for over 230 years of its storied history. The mission was initially founded in 1775 by Father Lasuen. He and his fellow padres left the mission for San Diego and it was re-founded by Father Serra on All Saint’s Day, November 1^st, 1776.

The mission became the seventh of twenty-one missions to be founded in Alta California. Like the previous six missions, San Juan Capistrano was established to expand the territorial boundaries of Spain and to spread Christianity to the Native Peoples of California.

For over the next 30 years, Mission San Juan Capistrano grew in population, buildings, livestock, and prominence.  By 1806, the mission had a population of over a 1000 people, over 10,000 head of cattle, and a completed architectural gem, the Great Stone Church.

Like all great monuments to the moment, the mission began to decline over the years. By 1821, Mexico had won its independence from Spain and made Alta California a territory of Mexico. There was yet another government takeover when the United States won the Mexican American War in 1848.

Fast-forward a hundred years and the Catholic Church got its mission back; wealthy donors began campaigns for restoration and a clever priest decided to capitalize on a yearly phenomenon of returning swallows to highlight the mission’s fund-raising efforts.

Long before long-limbed nymphs and their bronze counterparts played volleyball on sun-kissed beaches, Laguna Beach has attracted sun-worshipers and visitors as well as those seeking to expand their consciousness.

In the early 1900s Laguna Beach was a magnet for plein air painters, poets and artists interested in expanding their realm of consciousness. In the early sixties LSD was openly manufactured there. Café Frankenstein was a hangout for beat poets and artists. At night after the tourists left, Hare Krishna dancers and chanters came out in force. The air was thick with grass. There was a street scene alive with kaleidoscopic light shows and abstract works which referenced social and political issues of the time and environmental issues.

Some of the old artists are still around although seldom seen on the crowded tourist-lined streets. Instead, they sequester themselves high in the hills overlooking the clear blue pacific and wonder what happened to their quiet little beach town of years past. Up the road, Newport Beach sets the standard even higher.

Newport Pier is a prime spot for watching the Southern California beach scene unfold. Beach Boy wannabes and weekend surfers ride the waves of imagination and salt air. Young women and old ones alike wear little for the imagination and old men with too much imagination hang over the pier railing and wonder ‘what if…a long time ago…’

Crystal Cove State Park is a wilderness wonderland that includes over 2,400 acres of undeveloped woodland and three and a half miles of beaches. There are forty-six old style cottages in the cove being restored to their 1930s – to – 1950s-era designs.

I rolled off the PCH and got there just in time to watch the sun dropping its pedals along the shoreline. Sunsets at Crystal Cove rival that of Malory Pier in Key West and are just as breath-taking. It was quintessential California with all of its clichés and sublime charms combined. A soul-satisfying place to share with someone else if only for those brief moments in time.

And just like the lady with eyes the color of fog, it was a memory basin filled with the sounds of young children tempting the surf, old women wondering where their time had gone and one inquisitive writer looking for another tale to tell.

Media Culpability

I run the risk of being labeled an ‘old curmudgeon’ or ‘fuddy-duddy’ when I proclaim that the media in general has been guilty of culpability in news reporting. I’m old enough to remember when Huntley and Brinkly were the anchors we trusted most and Walter Cronkite was the gold standard for national news reporting. My, how things have changed.

A friend of mine has it right when he commented that in so many cases: “The only two assets a news anchor needs today is a pretty face and the ability to read a teleprompter.” Unlike a cafeteria catholic, no self-analysis needed (or wanted.) Heaven forbid, you should think for yourself. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched a news anchor read the news and ‘we’ both knew he/she had no idea what they were saying. Gobble, gobble, next paragraph, please.

It would seem that the over-the-airwaves national networks and cable channels sometimes act like New York Tabloids. Perhaps not as agrégés as the National Inquirer but certainly not with any more thought or reasoning than is needed just to get by. It’s as if simply reading press releases from the white house or either political party has eliminated the added stress of venting their validity or authenticity or honesty. It’s just easier that way.

Just as financial literary should be taught in schools, I think media literacy should also be part of the core curriculum in any educational institution. Some classes are already out there under the label: Critical Thinking: A must for anyone on the planet who can still think and reason.

Photo courtesy of Amy LaComb

Full disclosure: The following was lifted from Google:

The Center for Media Literacy (medialit.org) defines media literacy as a 21st-century educational framework designed to help individuals access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages in various formats. This approach emphasizes essential critical thinking and communication skills for navigating a democratic society.[1]

Core Principles (CML):

• Constructed Nature: Messages are built using specific creative languages and rules.
• Interpretation and Influence: Different people interpret messages uniquely, and these messages often reflect specific values and power structures.
• Purpose: Media is often created for profit or influence. [1, 2]

Goal and Inquiry:
The goal is to foster critical, effective communicators rather than censoring content. Key questions for analysis include identifying the creator, recognizing techniques used, evaluating represented values, and understanding the purpose of the message.

The key here is critical thinking whether you’re still in middle school or have entered adulthood. If folks just took the time to listen and calmly evaluate the information thrown at them each day, they would have a much better grasp on what’s ‘really’ happening here and abroad.

Unfortunately, for some folks, it’s simply easier to let others do their thinking for them. Pontifications from social media, the tabloids, Tik Tock and other channels of dis-information allow these robots to let others rule their lives. For each of us, the responsibility to ‘get it right’  rests between our ears in the gray matter above. And while it can take some hard work, that a lot of folks can’t be bothered with, it’s worth the effort.