Griffin Speaks
AGING WELL
Today,
Sunday July 11th, 2004 I celebrated my 46th birthday.
When many people learned that I would be forty-six today they were
surprised. The majority would say, “My goodness your look great to be
forty-six.” Those comments made me feel great.
There
are many people in Alabama who seemingly have discovered what many call the
“Fountain of Youth”. I call it the “Fountain of Aging Well”: Judge
Vanzetta Penn McPherson, Atty. Karen Knight, Montgomery Socialite Kay
Underwood, Mr. Edward Stevens, Mrs. Johnnie Carr, Atty. Tyrone Means, Judge
Lewis Gillis, Justice Jean Brown, Representative John Knight, Representative
Alvin Holmes, Atty. Billy Carter, Dr. Jefferson Underwood III, Dr. Perrin
Underwood, School Board Chairman Tommie Miller, Mr. Buddy Spears, Mr.
William Minter, Mrs. Hattie Minter, Mr. Charles Williams, Mrs. Irene Wiliams,
Mrs. Lottie Whatley, Mr. Randy Anderson, Ms. Doris Winborn, Tennis Coach
Bernard Sewell, Rev. James Arnell, Rev. Al Dixon, Rev Baxter Morris, Mrs.
E.G. Cummings, Former Governor Jim Folsom, Former Governor Don Siegelman,
Former Governor Guy Hunt, Governor Bob Riley, the list goes on and on.
What
do these people know that many others do not know? I suppose that they all
have other people to love, a positive outlook on life, and are resilient.
They have also learned to handle stress and continued to work their brain.
They have remained cognitively intact.
My
youthful appearance is maintained through diet, exercise, a great attitude
and a little “Just for Men Black hair dye.” Sometimes I run into people
who I have not seen for sometime and I don’t recognize them because they
have gained so much weight and aged so poorly. They have simply let
themselves go. You can age well
if you refuse to give up. In my humble opinion 90% of aging well is having a
good attitude about life, daily exercise and a healthy diet. I have attended
events in Tuskegee where eighty year old women were beautiful.
My
25th Morehouse College
reunion will occur next May. My goal is to be 165 pounds the same weight
that I carried in high school. The above mentioned people are my role models
because they have clearly aged well. I refuse to give up and look like some
of the people that I have seen that have simply let age take the best of
them! You know who you are!
Greg
Griffin is a freelance writer. You can read his previous articles by
visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com
