Editorial
Longevity and friendship

In the last two week's The Community Journal has honored two of the area's oldest residents. In Westminster, Dawley Porter celebrated his 99th birthday on Jan. 3 and was awarded the town's Boston Post Cane on Jan. 26. In Ashby, Lina Pernaa celebrated her 101st birthday on Jan. 20 at a party with the seniors club.

These two residents, as well as others in their age bracket, say they can't tell you why they have survived so long or about any secret youth serum they have taken. But watching them both is to realize there are a few not-sosecret things we can mimic from their lives.

The first is to have a good solid group of friends. Lina celebrated her birthday, not only with her family, but with members of the seniors club who made a point to recognize their companion's milestone.

As did Dawley's friends, who celebrated his birthday twice - at O'Toole's Coffee Shop and during their usual Friday lunch where the town surprised him with the cane.

In 1907, just about the time Dawley and Pernaa were born, the life expectancy for those born in the U.S. was 45.6 years old for a man and 49.9 years old for a woman. In 2004 the life expectancy at birth was 75 for a man and 80 for a woman.

Today as we get older we deal with a number of complicated issues - which medicines to take, where to live and, for some, even how to die. But we shouldn't just look at the older generation to learn how to cope with these sobering matters, but also to learn how to live a full life.

In her interview with The Community Journal, Lina Pernaa offered a telling comment.

"Nowadays, people want everything right away and the world goes so fast," she said.

She advises us not to rush by so fast and forget our friends and our families. These are the people who are going to keep us company as we age, they are going to be the people who help us walk down the street as our legs get weaker and whose conversations are going to help keep our minds sharp.

So as we struggle through our busy daily lives, let's not forget the lessons that Porter Dawley and Linaa Porter show us by their actions - keep your friends close.