Posted on 10/30/2012 6:42:41 AM PDT by dennisw
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.
Moraitis considered staying in America and seeking aggressive cancer treatment at a hospital. He could also be close to his adult children. But he decided instead to return to Ikaria, where he could be buried with his ancestors in a cemetery shaded by oak trees that overlooked Aegean Sea. He figured a funeral in the United States would cost thousands, a traditional Ikarian one only $200, leaving more of his retirement savings for his wife, Elpiniki. Moraitis and Elpiniki moved in with his elderly parents, into a tiny, whitewashed house on two acres of stepped vineyards near Evdilos, on the north side of Ikaria. At first, he spent his days in bed, his mother and wife tended to him. He reconnected with his faith. On Sunday mornings, he hobbled up the hill to a tiny Greek Orthodox chapel where his grandfather once served as a priest. When his childhood friends discovered that he had moved back, they started showing up every afternoon. They’d talk for hours, an activity that invariably involved a bottle or two of locally produced wine. I might as well die happy, he thought.
In the ensuing months, something strange happened. He says he started to feel stronger. One day, feeling ambitious, he planted some vegetables in the garden. He didn’t expect to live to harvest them, but he enjoyed being in the sunshine, breathing the ocean air. Elpiniki could enjoy the fresh vegetables after he was gone.
Six months came and went. Moraitis didn’t die.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is a “hopeful” and “feel good” story with many parts that are probably true, but given The New York Times’ lack of credibility in countless other areas, color me skeptical.
LONG article so I’ll shortcut it for you. People are living to be 100 or more on an island named Ikaria in Greece because they don’t watch the clock, arent as stressed and trying to keep up with the Joneses, stay active, take naps every day, drink 2 - 3 glasses of wine a day, drink coffee, and eat organic food...: )
For a second, I thought the NYT was giving evidence that there are in fact century old voters in N.C.
Moving along...
As well it should. By odd coincidence I have been to Ikaria, and it is an exceptionally ugly and unpleasant place. I later learned that it was a Communist stronghold, and had been since the 1940s.
The man who beat cancer by “going home” probably did so because of stress reduction - like the woman who was told that she had six months to live and spent all her savings on going on an around the world luxury cruise - at the end of the cruise, the cancer was gone.
how quick can I get there? Guess I have to wait til the youngest is 18 or 21 and none of them care where I go
You left out —— Lots of social interaction on this island so the old people feel connected and supported. I read the whole thing and found it interesting and prolly mostly true
When I go back home I have to turn down about 8 notches on a scale of 10. Still, cancer is rampant there. I blame it on a now closed Kerr McGee uranium hexaflouride plant. In our little church 23 are on the sick list with cancer. Nearly 1/4 of those present.
Stress reduction may help but is not all.
Genes and living in relatively isolated groups is the reason for lots of traits.
Thanks for reading the NYT so I don’t have to.
I tried to adhere to a version of the famous meddieterrean diet, and hampton low carb diet, as well as watch stress too...i can see how this would work....
one of my fave shows is Everybody Loves Raymond (big patricia heaton fan), and one episodes has them on location in italy, and it pretty much resembles exactly what this article talks about, a slower lifestyle, idyllic setting, good food, and good people...everytime i see that episode, i want to move there....
Many Greek Islands are long on ugly, with stony, bare, dry hills and scrubby vegetation. Yet, they are sort of marginally productive, cranking out olives, goat cheese, vegetables, and semi-drinkable local vintages. OTOH, the beaches can be loaded with nude and semi-nude Scandinavian ladies who can tend to distract one from the harsh surroundings.
Goats, BTW, are officially frowned upon by the Greek authorities, because they are extremely destructive to island vegetation. But Greeks cannot be separated from them.
...Then in the late 1940s, after the Greek Civil War, the government exiled thousands of Communists and radicals to the island. Nearly 40 percent of adults, many of them disillusioned with the high unemployment rate and the dwindling trickle of resources from Athens, still vote for the local Communist Party.
“In Samos, they care about money. Here, we don’t. For the many religious and cultural holidays, people pool their money and buy food and wine. If there is money left over, they give it to the poor. It’s not a ‘me’ place. It’s an ‘us’ place.”
“Do you know there’s no word in Greek for privacy?” she declared. “When everyone knows everyone else’s business, you get a feeling of connection and security. The lack of privacy is actually good, because it puts a check on people who don’t want to be caught or who do something to embarrass their family.”
There’s a lot of communist sympathizing and nanny-state defending in the piece. And then there’s the admission that they are really “reconstructing” the ages of the people on the island.
“Still, cancer is rampant there. I blame it on a now closed Kerr McGee...”
Where is this? Is this a town in Oklahoma?
“LONG article so I’ll shortcut it for you. People are living to be 100 or more on an island named Ikaria in Greece because they don’t watch the clock, arent as stressed and trying to keep up with the Joneses, stay active, take naps every day, drink 2 - 3 glasses of wine a day, drink coffee, and eat organic food...: )”
Sounds like a real-life island of the Lotus-eaters...
Can’t argue with that...
at the time I was there, nude women from anywhere were not what was happening on Ikaria - it was nothing like Mykonos - quite the opposite - I don’t believe there was even any toruism, except from people who had been from the island coming back to visit relatives.
I was there as an accident - traveling with a friend and his friend’s grandmother lived there. It was barren and unfriendly - I could not wait to leave - I got to the next island Samos, which though no paradise, at least had seen foreigners before.
What they need is for some liberals to go in there for some cultural cleansing work; and make them all “healthy” and tolerant.
There’s too many Christians over there and I bet they are not celebrating anal sex in the churches! Any Africans and Muslims to keep those white racists on their toes?
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