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The Villages
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Searching for the fountain of youth

Barry Evans
Barry Evans

One of things that is discussed a lot in this world is “ageism.” People just age for some reason and there is not a darn thing that you can do about it. Young people don’t pay any attention as they assume that old age is so far down the road that they do not need to give any consideration to it. Eventually, they do – some when they hit 30, or 40, or 50, and definitely beyond. It still doesn’t make any difference. People try to put the brakes on, but everyone still slip slides along and one day, they realize that there are a lot of years behind them.
People have tried to come up with formulas that will stop the process, but have been no more successful that the alchemists who tried to turn lead into gold. You even had Ponce de Leon who made a career of seeking the Fountain of Youth. Old Juan thought he had found it by traipsing through our great state of Florida, but had no such luck. Instead he probably found lots of mosquitoes and alligators. When Juan and his army showed up the mosquitoes probably thought that they had hit their fountain of youth with all that fresh new blood. They were disappointed, too.
By the way, I usually refer to Ponce de Leon by his first name of Juan as it seems more modern. Most people back in his day called him Ponce, but how many people do you know named Ponce today? His wife called him several names most of which he luckily never heard since he was never home. She complained bitterly to everyone that he was never around to take care of the seven kids. When Juan did find that out, he was surprised to learn about the seven kids as he was never home. The kids were aging as well most likely and were doubtless ready to look for the Fountain of Youth themselves. Probably had no luck either.
It is most likely well and proper that nobody found the Fountain of Youth. Can you imagine how many people there would be in the world today, if Juan had found it? If you think that snowbird season is bad now, just imagine what it would be like if no one had died for 400 years or more. We would definitely have to send folks to Mars or one of Saturn’s moons to store all the population. The only saving point might be that after 400 plus years the fountain would be bone dry from everyone sipping on it, and “ageism” would be rampant again.
Now people handle ageism differently. For example, The Blonde in the house never tells anybody her age – except for those insistent doctors and nurses. Heck, she got peeved at our son when she was about 28 because he told his teacher her age. During our kids growing up periods she would tell them to “pay attention to what it feels like to be young”. Now they won’t tell their age either. (OK, fake news they will – at least up to this point). She feels though that we were too busy and focused on raising the kids to notice the years slipping by. She has decreed that should not happen to our younger generation.
That being said, I do wonder if mankind makes it to Saturn’s moons, if they will find a Fountain of Youth there. Would definitely tick off Juan Ponce de Leon, if that did happen!

Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com

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