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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Island Where People Forget to Die
In 1943, a Greek war veteran named Stamatis Moraitis came to the United States for treatment of a combat-mangled arm. Hed survived a gunshot wound, escaped to Turkey and eventually talked his way onto the Queen Elizabeth, then serving as a troopship, to cross the Atlantic. Moraitis settled in Port Jefferson, N.Y., an enclave of countrymen from his native island, Ikaria. He quickly landed a job doing manual labor. Later, he moved to Boynton Beach, Fla. Along the way, Moraitis married a Greek-American woman, had three children and bought a three-bedroom house and a 1951 Chevrolet.
One day in 1976, Moraitis felt short of breath. Climbing stairs was a chore; he had to quit working midday. After X-rays, his doctor concluded that Moraitis had lung cancer. As he recalls, nine other doctors confirmed the diagnosis. They gave him nine months to live. He was in his mid-60s.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all
Mineral Man's delightful post a moment ago, reminds me of a wonderful piece I had read awhile ago.
Hope everyone enjoys this as much as I have
Elad
(11,395 posts)Thanks for sharing.
randome
(34,845 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)byeya
(2,842 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)jollyreaper2112
(1,941 posts)The key takeaway is that all of the healthy lifestyle components need to be taken together. Together, they are reinforcing. Apart, they don't work as well. And the American lifestyle is geared towards early death.
malaise
(267,838 posts)Thanks
sasha031
(6,700 posts)what's so lovely is the young still go to the mainland for higher ed, then return & have families.
it's the island of the circle of life
Speck Tater
(10,618 posts)Nobody watches the clock. Nobody cares what time it is. They wake up when they wake up, even if that's not till 10:00 AM or later. Nobody cares if they have a lot of money or not. They have escaped from the rat race. They are the polar opposite of our society.
sasha031
(6,700 posts)they do their own farming, share everything with the rest of the island, very self sufficient.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)You're as young as you want to be, and not a day older! Mind over matter.! Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful article. What a story!!!!
AllyCat
(16,039 posts)ErikJ
(6,335 posts)"Its hard to get through the day in Ikaria without walking up 20 hills. "
I read his great book "Blue Zones" and the same goes for Italy's Sardinia island. THey have the largest concentration of centenarian men in the world because they walk so many hills there.
So I have taken up walking up a 70 foot set of stairs every day for the past year. And never felt better.