Since the beginning of time man has been fascinated with eternal life. We have been intrigued with the idea of living forever. Let’s face it. We don’t like the idea of getting old or dying. It scares us.
Ponce de Leon
In the early 1500s the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon heard fantastic tales of crystal spring waters flowing from living springs among the Bahama Islands in which he who bathed in these waters would be instantly endowed with immortal youth and great beauty. He was getting older and dreamed of finding this “fountain of youth” and bathing in it.
He sailed from Puerto Rico for the Bahamas with several ships outfitted at his expense. He went from island to island tasting of and bathing in every stream and lake that he found but with no luck. He continued on and came upon a wooded shoreline with large flowering trees that filled the air with their fragrance. He believed he had finally found the fabled paradise.
It was Easter morning when Ponce and his companions landed on the shores of this beautiful land. He named the land after a Spanish Easter holiday, “Feast of Flowers” or in Spanish, “Pascua de Florida.” Today we just call it Florida. And old people still flock there!
Are you searching for the Fountain of Youth?
It’s kind of silly to think that someone would be searching for the fountain of youth…or is it? Are there people today searching for the fountain of youth? Are you?
Americans have spent billions of dollars trying to look younger and live longer. We are fighting old age tooth and nail. We look in the mirror and wonder, “who is that old person?” Just last year over two million Americans spent over $7 billion on cosmetic surgery. Men are getting facelifts and so are 80-year-old grandmothers. These days you can spend your money on:
- Botox treatments
- Microdermabrasion treatments
- Chemical peels
- Laser photo rejuvenation treatments
- Rogaine to get your hair back
The HGH Craze
The latest craze is HGH or Human Growth Hormone treatments. They are supposed to reverse your bodies aging clock. You inject yourself with it on a daily basis and it will only cost you $10,000 per year to do it.
New Age Books
There are books out now that supposedly teach you how to live forever with special treatments and diets and supplements. Now I understand that as we age our body stops growing except for our ears and nose. They continue to grow. Can you imagine what we’d look like if we lived to be 180. Would we be able to see past our noses?
Frozen in Time
Now if you want you can have your body frozen when you die with the hopes that in, say, 100 or 200 years someone will find a way to bring you back to life. This is for real. It is called Cryonics. For only $120,000 you can have this done to your body when you die. There are three of these Cryonic facilities in the United States. They will take your body and put it in a metal pod and fill it with liquid nitrogen and keep your body frozen at 196 degrees below zero Celsius, the point at which virtually all molecular activity ceases. Currently there are 91 people in the United States that have had this procedure done to their bodies with over a thousand more who have signed up – all with the hope of one day waking up in Utopia and living forever.
Aren’t we all guilty of it?
Come on. Admit it. Aren’t we all guilty in one sense or another of pursuing the so-called “Fountain of Youth?” We stare at the mirror in the morning and wonder if there is something that can be done to erase the ravages of time. Our medicine cabinets are filled with creams and ointments that promise youth! We take dietary supplements in hopes of lengthening our lives. We fight aging and death tooth and nail. But is that where we should be spending our time and energy?
Staring at Death in the Face
Several years ago I participated in an American Red Cross blood drive. They take a very large needle and stick it in your arm and proceed to drain out several gallons of your blood (or so it seems!) Even though I was weak after the procedure I still felt good that I had done my duty and perhaps helped save someone’s life.
Several weeks later I received a letter in the mail from the American Red Cross. This is what it said:
Dear Mr. Larson: You recently donated blood and we appreciate your support of our blood program. During that donation you were informed that several screening tests would be performed to determine the suitability of your blood for donation. During the routine testing of your blood donation, an abnormality was discovered. We have enclosed the results of all tests performed on your donation.
(At this point I thought to myself, “Oh, I probably have low blood sugar or something.” Then I read on…)
Your Test Results: The Red Cross screens all blood for the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. One of the screening tests detects antibodies to HIV.
Suddenly my own mortality became very real for me. I sat down and read the letter over and over at least five times. There were two huge concerns going through my mind at that time. The first was the whole stigma of HIV and AIDS. If I did have it, where did I get it from and what will everyone think. The second, ever-bigger concern, was that I could die from this. I wasn’t ready to die. I had a whole life ahead of me. Suddenly life became so fragile, so precious.
The letter said chances are it was a false positive test and that I didn’t have the HIV virus. It said that I should see my doctor as soon as possible to get another blood test. I remember that day sitting in the clinic. They had my chart on a clipboard and the nurse wrote a big red HIV on the top of it. “Thanks,” I thought. Everyone that got my clipboard would look at it and look at me. I just knew they were not thinking good things about me.
Live the life that you have
Gratefully, all the tests came out negative and I am the perfect specimen of health to this day, ha ha! But, for a brief moment in time the possibility of death stared me in the face. It was very sobering. My life began to sort out in a different order than before. Things I thought were so important suddenly had very little value. Other things I had long neglected, such as my family, became intensely important.
I’m actually very grateful to have gone through that experience with donating blood because of the lessons learned. Perhaps its not the number of years that we live that give our life value. Perhaps, rather than spend our time and energy chasing the fountain of youth we ought to live the life that we have. Thank you.
Copyright © 2008 Gary N. Larson
