JOURNAL ENTRY 52: Why bother Part 1

I toyed around with this blog entry for several weeks now.

 

I am wondering if I have Mickey Mantle syndrome. I don't think any such syndrome actually exists, at least not officially. For those who are not familiar with one of the all-time great baseball players, Mantle played for the New York Yankees in the 1950s through the late 1960's.  However, legend has it that he led a reckless lifestyle in part because he believed he would not live to be an old man. Apparently a lot of people in his family passed away at early ages so he figured he would not live to be 70. So he supposedly drank in excess and partied and ultimately did not take care of himself properly. Supposedly. He died in his sixties .  I believe of liver cancer.

 

No I do not think I want to start boozing it up or God forbid even start taking hard drugs.  I do wonder though the purpose of going to the extreme to take care of myself. Here is one example:
I recently ran into a neighbor who is also a friend and more importantly was good friends with my father when he was alive. They also went to the same church. She has to be in early seventies. I don't see her too often but when I do we greet each other warmly. I give her a kiss and a hug, almost as if she were an aunt or a grandmother. When I saw her it was no different but in this conversation she asked how my father was doing. An embarrassing moment, I brushed it off why politely reminded her but he passed in 2011. She seemed oblivious to it. This is not the first time in a conversation with her that I realized something wasn't right. Naturally, I am wondering if memory loss is present. Hopefully she is not in the early or even mid stages of dementia.

 

 We are hearing about it more and more now; people suffering from dementia and memory loss.  You hear about Alzheimers  Disease as well. I have shared my feelings about that term in this blog.  I think Alzheimers disease is an overused term.

 

From the time I was a child I can recall seeing commercials and news reports that supported early detention, the use of vitamins, basically taking better care of yourself so that you can live a long life. Even though the government allowed cigarette smoking there were plenty of ads supporting the ban of the use of cigarettes. On television people routinely talked about drinking less alcohol and watching your weight, watching your blood pressure, watching your cholesterol and basically eating healthy. I went along with that program. Still do. But now I am wondering, for what? There is a part of me that wonders if that whole wellness campaign was just another marketing ploy to get money.

Back quick glance my theory may seem paranoid. However, if you think about it this country does very little for anyone unless someone can make a profit. Why give out advice to extend people's lives? Obviously to cash in on it. The problem is that as we grow older, even though we may have tried our best to take care of ourselves we still run into problems.   We all have to die from something. Some of it is genetics. Personally, I believe God has our destiny in his hands. For those who don't believe, let's just say we are genetically coded. Somethings you can probably fix with a pill or dietary change while others there is nothing you can do about.

 

There are a lot of people living to be 70, at and beyond. Probably more than we experienced 50 or 60 years ago. The problem is though people may have taken care of themselves and gotten screened for cancer and heart disease, they still fell victim to debilitating arthritis and other elements. The bottom line is they are 70 and 80 years old in poor physical and/or mental condition and cannot afford the care it takes to keep them alive. The state of elder care, especially in the United States is horrific. If you were not fortunate enough to have a sizable nest egg and be blessed with good health in your old age you will suffer.

 

There are a lot of people who are not quite yet middle class. They may have had families and other expenses which prevented them from saving a lot of money. Now they are old and quite often the family they raised cannot properly assist them. Nobody wants to give good health care. Some people have even lost pensions.  So I look at all of this and ask is it worth it?  I am rapidly realizing it does not.

 

I am convinced now that environmental conditions and mostly the food we eat and water we drink contribute to certain neurological conditions. Yes, I believe a lot of the post things that are passed around on Facebook regarding genetically processed foods. We are consuming too many items that have no nutritional value. Forget the fact that whatever they are treating the foods with are harmful to our bodies. I believe this is a major contributor two people who have dementia and other neurological conditions. Forget the fact most of our politicians want to sweep this under the rug and not even let us know about it. Personally I think there are some who want to make it illegal for us to know about it. Think about it. For years when I was growing up the country pushed margarine on us to use as opposed to lard and butter. However, if you checked out the ingredients of margarine there was nothing of any significant nutritional value in it. In fact, in moderation butter and lard where better for us than margarine because at least it had items the body could use.

 

It gets worse. There are certain items we eat that no longer spoil. Some of the pastries we eat including breads often do not spoil no matter how long we keep it at room temperature. there are packaged pastries I've had on my desk for months that look the same as they did when I first purchased it. It may get a little stale but there's no mold on it. These are the kind of things we are putting into our bodies without a second thought. These are the things I think contribute to deteriorating mental health as we grow older. Our bodies are not only facing malnutrition but we are being poisoned.

 

So now more of us are facing a future of dementia and memory loss. Even if not connected to the foods we eat, more of us are living longer and it is quite possible we are genetically coded for memory loss and dementia. With no way to pay for assistance. Even if you can afford the care, with the low wages we offer caregivers we won't get much quality. My mother and her sister went through that. There are a few horrifying events in our life, but none as fearful as not being able to assist yourself and having to depend on a third party who may or may not show up. My mother pays close to $2000 for ladies to come and help her clean herself, bathe and eat. Eventually she will not be able to afford this and maybe, hopefully Medicaid will help. God forbid she needs to go to a nursing home with the care can be even worse.

 

I am just renting right now, however you may be able to see what my gripe is. I seriously doubt if it is worth it to put the effort in to have a long life. I personally feel but growing old is a luxury afforded by people with money. That's the way it was meant to be.