It’s pretty much common knowledge that one of the clots of ancients scattered sparsely around the world happens to be packed into the interior of Sardinia. The stories these days from the “news” media are coming hot and heavy to American shores. We must be worried about our longevity, our overly expensive “best health care in the world” here in the US doesn’t do diddly for our expected life span; Italians live a full 2 years longer on average.
One of the best stories comes in these past few weeks comes from the Guardian: World’s oldest siblings in Sardinia: ‘It’s all down to minestrone,’ says Consolata Melis, 105
“Some inventions have not impressed her, starting with supermarket lettuces sold in plastic bags. “I would like to meet someone who actually buys them,” said Melis, who attributes her longevity to minestrone (translation: “big soup”) made with vegetables from her garden, washed down with a glass of goat’s milk.”
Obviously she’s never been to the US.
It’s all in that soup she still makes from the garden she tends. And the story of the rocket scientists coming into town (she knitted lambswool mattresses for them) is something you won’t want to miss.
But I wanted to address one of the comments, a quite thoughtless one that many people share, I’m sure. It addresses the longevity of the family.
“Nine of them with a combined age of 818? Bad news for planet Earth.”
You see, it’s assumed that folks really quit working at 65 or so, and immediately turn into vegetables that feed off the State. Unable to slog through a day without medicines that are priced as if they were some rare earth from a distant planet, these vegetable-people are a well-recognized budgetary burden on the whole planet, unlike war, which is great fun when you and a bunch of your friends can stretch out in front of the wide screen and watch it with chips so it must be good for the economy somehow, economists suggest.
But let me remind you: this woman still gardens. She still provides for herself. And she does so without impacting anyone else. I’ll bet there’s nothing she wastes. It’s all big soup and small footprint. Can you say that about your life, Mr. davidsouthafrican? No? Well then, shut yer trap.
You can’t swing a cat in Sardinia without hitting someone who’s productive at an age when most folks would be dead in the US. Like two of my favorite people I met last year when researching our app, “Sardinia Inside Out”. At 92, lace-maker Giovanna Ledda gossips while whipping together lace at a speed your eyes can hardly follow. A cancer survivor who was productive all his life, sculptor Pinuccio Sciola made rocks sing day after day.
Being productive is the key. Being interesting is a bonus. A glass of Cannonau di Sardegna probably can’t hurt either.