Thoughts at the mid point

Clearly I dont Blog enough. My last post was in April 2009.

Today is my birthday. I am 38 and I am thinking that if I multiply that by 2 you get 76. That may well be a good life expectancy for a man in Trinidad given the fact that there is also a strong probability that I could be murdered or killed on the road by one of our lawless drivers.

This month's Time Magazine (Feb 2010) has a story on ageing. According to Time if people live longer, and that is what is expected, the implications could be that health care cost could skyrocket by the hundreds of billions. At the same time scientist believe that people will soon live to 150 and that the person to do that was born in 2000. You can also read the book "Blue Zones" which studies those societies in the world that have the longest life expectancy. That would be Okinawa in Japan, the sheep hearding wine drinking Sardinians of Italy and the Seventh Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California. That reminds me- on my way to Trinidad from Miami I met a Japanese girl who told me that the magic of Okinawa is fading and life expectancy is falling. That was confirmed in the book "Blue Zones". Why? Okinawa has a large US Naval base and with that comes - KFC, McDonalds and other flag bearers of the un-sustainable/ un-healthy American lifestyle.

There is another school of thought that the more one's brain is active the long one would live. We have all heard of "old professors". Winston Churchill was a heavy smoker who lived into his 90's. Churchill had one of the most active minds in history. Apart from the little issue of being an architect of the victory of the free world against Nazi tyranny, Sir Winston was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature. If brian activity is a proxy for longevity, we can expect that most Trinidadians to be dead soon as thinking and reading are all but extinct in Trinidad.

The country with the lowest life expectancy in the world is Angola - an oil rich / economically poor African nation. Oil companies that operate there (like BP) should not be proud of the fact that they do business in a country where on average a person lives into their mid-30's. It is hoped that enlightened Corporate Social Responsibility policy and enlightened Governance (something of a rarity in Africa) would converge to invest in better health care and AIDS prevention / education for Angolan's. The irony of this of course is that Japan, which has no significant oil reserves, has the second highest life expectancy in the world. Talk about "resource curse thesis"!

So what else is there? There is "purpose". If we have purpose we have a reason to live and that counts for a lot. In business there is what is called "strategic purpose". If you read Jim Collins' book "Good to Great" - he explains that great companies have a purpose that is higher than satisfying their shareholders desire for a return on their investment (ROI). So Disney exist primarily to make people happy even if that means squeezing every penny out of them at the Disney Resorts ( ok I still love Disney). Collins uses the example of the State of Israel to teach "purpose". Israel, according to Collins, exist to provide a safe place for Jews in the world. That may be why they have been so successful in defending themselves since 1948.

Age is, according to Trinidad's greatest calyposnian Sparrow, just a number. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India is 78, Clint Eastwood is 79 and still making great movies, the Dalai Lama is 74 and Pope Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger) is 82. So if I do live as long as Joseph Ratzinger I want to be as active and as sharp minded as he is.

So folks, I will continue reading and when I am out of space for books there's Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble's Nook. I will drink my Red Wine, I will take my Fish Oil and Asprin and lets not forget the Reservatrol as recommened by Dr. Oz.

If I were to say that the last 38 years were a blast, I would be lying and being overly positive. Life in a small third world country isnt always easy. Everything here seems to be hard to do. Try to do anything in Trinidad and the invisible hand of third world incompetence intervenes immediately yanking you back and battering you into submission. That creates stress and stress erodes life expectancy. Try driving from point A to point B in Trinidad and you will see what I mean.

I am however a perpetual optmist and being a perpetuel optimist, I look forward the next 38 years and beyond that should be fun too. Here's to the year 2048 and no regrets.