AS EVERYONE goes on living in pursuit of whatever and wherever manifest destiny takes them, the mere effort of survival and staying alive takes its toll.
The human body can only take so much. You can’t stay young forever…what with all the folly and frolic; chicks and garlic; whiskey, rhum, shabu, and ecstasy; bulang, 6-cock derby or one cock only; all-night mahjong; pussy…ah, pusoy at the bilasyon. No wonder so many of our brothers and sisters have left. At least, they had fun while they lasted.
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It does seem to be part of our nature to enjoy life beyond its fullest. In fact, we abuse the gift of life. Why not? We only have one life to live, so, let’s get ready to rumble.
Oh, young man, flying off on the wings of the sweet bird of Youth, hears no voice and knows no better.
Many recalcitrant losers, smarting from a misspent youth, wax eloquent and advise us to go ahead and enjoy life while you can. For the time will come when you want to but the body can’t do so. What an insanely sound argument.
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The problem of taking good care of your health is that it is time-consuming. And it poses life-threatening decisions.
I remember my high school teacher in Health defining it as…”a quality of life that renders an individual fit to live most and to serve the best.” By the way, she is dead.
It follows that taking care of our health will give us a long life. But think of all the lechon and pig adobo we have to give up eating; the beer and whisky left un-quaffed; the chicks and pampams left untouched to waste their sweetness in the desert air? All for the love of growing old?
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Hard-headed malcontents like us who refuse to grow old argue that whether you are a tee-totaler virgin or a gonorrhic alcoholic, you always grow old…as long as you continue to celebrate your birthday. Why waste all the goodness and cholesterol in life just to set a record that is a waste of time?
Nowadays, who derives pride and pleasure from old age? An old man has lost all pride…he sometimes piss in his pants without knowing it and worse, forgets to pay his debts. But strangely he knows that he cannot be electrocuted or strangled.
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For that matter, the Japanese are world-renowned centurions; as they normally reach 100 years of age. That is on a diet of algae; fish eyes and tea. None of which appeals to me…or to you.
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In the center of your heart stands a PECO post. As long as it sends messages of love and hope, joy and contentment; only good news; young girls in anticipation…maybe you’re young. But when the pole is down, tapped with wires of jumpers and covered by the ice of pessimism and despair…then you’re an old carabao in need of an axe for final rest and deliverance.
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A GONGO reporter was interviewing old men in a remote barangay in Lambunao, Iloilo.
1st Man: I eat only okra and malunggay. I’m 90 years old.
2nd Man: I eat dahon kamote. I’m 100 years old.
3rd Man: Me? I hardly eat at all because I’m taking shabu. I’m 19. (muzones_law_office@yahoo.com/PN)
