A friend sent this excerpt from a blog written by a German. The blog is called 'Alles Schall und Rauch' (All Noise and Smoke).
Copying the excerpt here is not in any way a statement of support for the opinions and views of the writer of the blog 'Alles Schall und Rauch'
It makes for an interesting read.
This is from Abkhazia is known for its people who are getting very old. It is because of the healthy climate, healthy food, healthy lifestyle and the healing spring water.
That is why Stalin had five holiday homes built in the most beautiful spots of Abkhazia, because he thought that this is how he would grow old.
My neighbour is such a "Methuselah" and yesterday I was invited to his birthday party, the celebration of his 123rd birthday.
You have to imagine, he was born in 1897. At that time Tsar Nicholas II, Nikolaus Alexandrovich Romanov, who abdicated in 1917, ruled.
Everyone was there, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and great-great-great-grandchildren plus friends and neighbours, a total of almost 500 well-wishers.
After I had toasted his health several times with self-distilled 70 percent fruit schnapps, I took the opportunity to ask him about his life, his health and of course about the current corona virus crisis.
He said that he would drink a glass of Tchacha (abasian brandy) every morning and that it would kill all germs, that is why he had been living healthy for so long.
It would also be important not to have any stress, that's why after his wife died 90 years ago he would not have married a new one, although the female sex, especially the young ones, are still after him, but that's not so exhausting.
He still looks good, is slim and fit, he said with a wink and a mischievous smile. I understood what he meant, this daredevil!
Timur stressed that the pandemic was nothing more than a mass hysteria invented by the media, and he said to me that he would not let the corona virus stop him from meeting his friends.
"Everyone is in panic over this, but as far as I can tell, it is the politicians, journalists and doctors who are pushing this flu-like virus disproportionately high," he said.
He stressed that he had already experienced and survived quite different crises, such as the Great War (World War I), the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks, the Communists' seizure of power, the Spanish flu, then the mass deportations of Joseph Stalin, the Great Patriotic War (World War II), the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union due to Gorbachev's perestroika and the Georgian war of aggression in 1992/93.
"The German soldiers of the Wehrmacht, who came from the north via the Caucasus, tried to invade Abkhazia, but we beat them back, just like the Georgians did almost 30 years ago," said the multiple war veteran with pride.
After a very long life, he wouldn't let such a ridiculous virus stop him from visiting his friends and having a drink and playing cards with them.
"They say I must stay at home to protect my 100-year-old children and 75-year-old grandchildren. What is this?" He said that anyone who hides out now is a coward.
Today's generation is simply not hardened and too spoiled, he added. "But come on, Pojechali (Let's go!). We will all stay healthy," he said to me laughing and we toasted.
"Anyway, I promise you this... " he looked into the round of congratulators, "...we will look back and laugh about this in a few years when I am 125 years old."
I understood... ...his optimism and humor, plus his joy of life, made him grow old, which is a lesson to me.
Well then, cheers to Timur, to your health and to the beginning of the new month of April.
1 comment:
Michael, it's a great read in deed :-)
Wouldn't it be worth trying to have a glass of schnapps every morning to live another healthy 50 years?
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