The 100-Year Miracle
There is evil in the world, but there is goodness in it too. Unexpected outcomes happen all the time.
Once upon a time in New Orleans, Louisiana, a young woman named Louise got married when she was still in her teens and soon gave birth to her first child. The delivery went well. The baby boy was healthy and strong, and she named him Fabian.
Two years later, Louise gave birth to her second child, who also arrived healthy and strong during a normal delivery. This child was a girl. Louise gave her the name Myrtle.
The young mother had not yet reached the age of 25 when she gave birth to her third child, a son she called Louis. Although the delivery went well enough, Louis was not as strong or as healthy as his brother and sister. In fact, he was weak and quite sickly.
While he was still a small child,
Louis became very ill with one of the diseases that sometimes afflicted young children in the hot mosquito-ridden climate of the Crescent City. Especially if they were weak and sickly to begin with.
I no longer remember the name of the illness, but I do know that Louis’s condition was serious enough to consult a doctor. After examining the child, the doctor said there was nothing he could do. He advised the young parents to call for a priest.
New Orleans is a Catholic city, and it was not difficult for a Catholic family to find a priest, who soon appeared and administered the sacrament of Extreme Unction.
Since the last rites are not given lightly, the parents resigned themselves to the child’s imminent departure from this world. They said prayers, lit candles, and dedicated his young soul to the saints.
Years later, a voice on the radio
announced that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. And Louis, who was celebrating his 18th birthday—having survived that serious childhood illness—knew that his life was about to change.
A short time later, he found himself in uniform, then aboard a ship headed for the Philippines and the Pacific Theater of World War II. Once again, his life was in danger. And once again, he survived.
Last week, on December 7th, thirty-two members of my family met at Chicago’s historic Union League Club to celebrate the 100th birthday of my mother’s younger brother and my remarkable Uncle Louis.
Pardon the cliché,
but there was so much love in the room you could cut it with a knife. The war left my uncle partially deaf, but it did not take away his positive attitude. He has always felt grateful that he came back from the Philippines alive when so many of his friends and fellow soldiers did not.
Surely the irony of my uncle’s life is not lost on you. Once on the threshold of death, he has lived longer than his siblings, two wives, and three of his children.
He is my family’s last surviving member of the Greatest Generation. The generation that survived the Great Depression and World War II. And in his case—like my father, mother, and all my uncles and aunts—he also survived the terrible scourge of segregation.
Those enormous difficulties
could have turned him into a bitter angry man. But he is one of the most positive, generous, and upbeat men I have ever known. Whenever I finish talking with him on the phone, I’m reminded of the famous line that’s often attributed to Maya Angelou.
People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
When 32 people fly into Chicago from Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, Louisiana, New York, and Wisconsin—to celebrate a life and a legacy, it’s not because the man of the hour made them feel bad. Uncle Louis always leaves you smiling, always gives you something to think about, always reminds you that he is grateful.
Grateful for good health.
Grateful for a good mind—the man watches Jeopardy! every day and is an insatiable reader. And grateful for another day of life. He wakes up every morning and gives thanks to the Creator for permitting him another opportunity to experience the beauty and many joys of this world.
During his boyhood, Uncle Louis read a 19th-century poem by Sam Walter Foss, which struck him so profoundly, he decided to make it his life’s purpose.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
When he retired after working 32 years with the United States Postal Service, my Uncle Louis spent the next few decades painting the homes of his neighbors and friends. Not for extra income. Because he never took a cent. Not even for the paint. He did it because he loved painting and because the houses needed it.
Uncle Louis is the guy who shovels snow off his own walkway, then shovels the sidewalk, and his neighbors’ walkway, too.
All of that exercise
has no doubt been good for his longevity. But he’s also never smoked or consumed hard liquor. He eats a healthy diet, accentuates the positive (like the song says), and maintains the attitude of gratitude.
But modern anti-aging research would say his epigenome contributed to his longevity too. That’s the “landscape of proteins and chemicals that sits on top of your genetic material.” According to Forbes, the epigenome doesn’t change your DNA, but it does change the way your DNA acts.
Over time, exposure to pollution, poor diet, lack of exercise, and second-hand smoke can affect the epigenome negatively, causing your genes to slow down or shut off — making you old.
By the same token, a lifestyle that includes the opposite of those things can help you live longer. That is why the epigenome has become the focus of those who study reverse-aging. Without realizing it consciously, my uncle has been positively impacting his epigenome for most of his life.
It was Tolstoy
who famously wrote on the first page of Anna Karenina that all happy families are alike. But I don’t see how any family could have been as happy as mine on December 7th of this year as we celebrated my uncle’s 100th birthday.
Looking at my uncle, I am reminded that although the world is full of many bad things, there is goodness in it too.
When you get right down to it, his entire life has been a miracle. Come to think of it, so is yours. And so is mine.
©2023 Andrew Jazprose Hill
Thanks for reading/listening.
Uncle Louis is a living, breathing reminder of what it takes to be happy - a positive outlook, a sense of gratitude and service to others. Reading his “story” made my day!
A blessing to have a man like your uncle in your family and as a model of a life well lived.