It’s Laziness That Kills

In The February, 2001, Pioneer section of the Tidings (p. 75), mention was made of people in the Caribbean who keep on working far into old age. A neighbour of mine in the island of Dominica is 126 years old. Her birth certificate proves that. She was born in 1875. I am 69, and when I was a pickney in the 1930’s, I remember her as an old woman then. Her name is Elizabeth Israel. Her mother was a slave. Most of her life she worked on a plantation picking vegetables. In fact, she was an overseer long after her hundredth birthday. Right now, she is a bit frail but her mind is clear as a bell. She has had a very hard working life, but she says, “Hard work never killed anybody. It’s laziness that kills.” She ascribes her long, healthy life to hard work, a vegetarian diet, pure drinking water, and “moderation.”

I have a great-great aunt called Rose who is still alive, and remember I am nearly 70. She worked with Elizabeth in the fields for over a hundred years. She must be getting on for 120 by now. She is quick of mind and full of energy. Like Daniel, she always felt it was more healthy to eat vegetables and drink water than use liquor and a lot of rich food.