SOS - The Secret to Healthy Long Life

Let me start off by stating that I am not qualified to give the secret to long life as I have not lived a long life. This "SOS" secret was shared with me by an elderly gentleman whom I met for the first time whilst queuing this morning. Uncle T is 80 years old, highly independent, looks healthy, has good hearing and is able to drive himself in KL (and if you know KL, traffic is horrendous and roads have changed so much), and plans to travel abroad by himself to visit his daughter overseas. Wow! If I ever live to be 80 years old, I would like to be like Uncle T.

So, what's his secret of achieving a healthy long life? He says, "When you reach 40 years old, reduce:
S - Salt
O - Oil
S - Sugar"

Aahh... That explains his good health. But really, if you ask me, diet aside, his secret is that he has a passion for learning. You know the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks?". It doesn't apply to Uncle T. A retired principal, this gentleman took up ball-room and Latin dancing 5 years ago and is still strutting dance moves today. He has also taken computer lessons from the Seniors Citizen Club. E-mail? No problem. Burn CD? No problem. Sure, it takes a while for him to learn it. But the point is, he wants to learn. He says his grandchildren have more patience to teach him than his son has. Food for thought, isn't it?

Sometimes, we younger people have little patience to teach our parents new technology. We get impatient. But we forget that when we were younger and our parents had to teach us maths (for example), they did it with patience and love. The very least we can do is to now be patient when we return the favour. Just yesterday, mum & dad came over so I could help fix dad's phone which was on vibrating mode and despite attempts to adjust the settings, it wouldn't ring. So, I did what I normally do when electronic gadgets don't work. Switch it off and on again. But, my parents who have minimal experience with computers don't know that. And so, we teach...for the umpteenth time...with patience... After all, they did that for us too.

So, what did I learn about life from my encounter with Uncle T?
1) Eat healthy
2) Live life. Always keep learning.
3) Be patient.

Proverbs 20:29
"The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old."