Omega 3's And All of That

I was at a show in town here over the weekend. It was a Jersey Boys like tribute to Frankie Valley. Not exactly my cup of tea but, over all, an evening's entertainment.

The venue was nightclub like with narrow tables of 10 and a steady coming and going of cocktail servers throughout the show. The crowd was nightclub noisy but enjoyed the show.

As I sat there and listened to this music of the 60's and 70's I had to think about the absence of smoke. I'm fairly certain that, even at the end of their long careers, the Four Seasons never played a gig where cigarette smoke wasn't a part of the environment.

24 hours later I'm watching a TV show at home when an ad comes on for some food or supplement that contains all the necessary vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidents, and omega-3's to promote health and long life. I'm watching this ad casted with smiling adults, hair touched with just a few virile wisps of gray, mouths brimming with bleached-white teeth, white folks looking trim, fit, wealthy and healthy, and I had a peculiar thought: When did living a long life become the objective? Does our current 79+ year life expectancy offer us more and better compared to the 69 years a person had back circa 1960? Are we accomplishing more? Are we more industrious? Are we more kind? Do we care more about others? Are we any funnier that we used to be? Or are we just living longer?

I have to wonder if that previous generation, those sorry bastards who schlepped along with a measly 68 or 9 year lifespan, I have to wonder if they weren't a little more concerned with how they lived more than how long they lived. Here's the really absurd question: Was the smoking a part of that? Certainly smoking was a part of the shorter life span but what I mean is something different.  I'm wondering, was the smoking an activity that was a partner to their nervous industry, the perpetual energy of an industrious generation? Were those seemingly ubiquitous cigarettes part of the equipment-- as useful at work as they were at play?

Walking home the other day a car passed by. It was a beat up little Chevy making sounds like there was a terminal problem under the hood. Behind the wheel was an overweight young woman in a hoody, cell phone held to her ear with one hand, cigarette held to her mouth with the other. It struck me, that woman has become the image of the smoker in contemporary society.  Just the opposite of the demographic that's out there sucking up those omega-3's.

It's been a long time since smoking was cool. Too many really miserable deaths have pretty much put an end to cigarettes-- at least in reasonably educated circles. Certainly not universally, but significantly. But still, when I see our current almost infatuation with health and longevity I have to wonder: Why? What are we living for? Are we simply afraid to die? And, like the alcoholic who gives up his booze but doesn't do his work and doesn't understand his alcoholism, have we lost something of our industry in our effort to promote health and longevity?

For the record, I am extremely happy that smoking has disappeared from the world around me. I'm thrilled to death that smoking has been relegated to noisy old cars. Even so, smoking was an integral part of the frenetic society of the 20th century. They may not have lived as long but, damn, they got a lot done and knew how to have a good time. And I do miss that.