The search for the ideal place to live
has been a big part of my life. I prefer a quiet rural area far from neighbors
with a hilly terrain, affordable housing, moderate weather and earthy women.
I've lived in scores of places in 12
states now and have yet to find heaven on earth, but I keep getting closer.
Apparently, perfection is a state of
mind rather than a spot on a map.
WHERE TO LIVE
Obviously, everyone has their own
reason for choosing where to live, such as economic opportunities, climate,
cost of living, political environment, quality of education, social atmosphere,
recreational activities, etc.
One consideration for finding the ideal
place to nest might be projected life expectancy of various locations. Dr.
Christopher Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study of
life spans across the USA.
The longest human life spans by state
are:
- Hawaii – 80.0
- Minnesota – 78.8
- Connecticut -- 78.7
- Utah – 78.7
- Massachusetts – 78.4
- Iowa -- 78.3
- New Hampshire -- 78.3
- North Dakota -- 78.3
- Rhode Island – 78.3
The shortest life spans by state are:
- Georgia – 75.3
- Arkansas -- 75.2
- Kentucky -- 75.2
- Oklahoma – 75.2
- Tennessee -- 75.1
- West Virginia – 75.1
- Alabama – 74.4
- Louisiana – 74.2
- Mississippi – 73.6
For some reason, southerners don't last
as long as the rest of the country. That's probably because they're too busy
having a good time, eating too much deep-fried possum and breathing in too many
NASCAR fumes.
Hawaii may be a good place to live a
long life but it's also highly vulnerable to natural disasters.
A university study, recently published
by Live Science, listed the largest 50 American cities from the safest to the
most vulnerable to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes,
earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, flooding, etc.
The 10 safest cities are:
1) Mesa, Ariz.
2) Milwaukee, Wis.
3) Cleveland, Ohio
4) El Paso, Tex.
5) Phoenix, Ariz.
6) Tucson, Ariz.
7) Colorado Springs, Colo.
8) Detroit, Mich.
9) Fresno, Calif.
10) Minneapolis, Minn.
The 10 most dangerous American cities
when it comes to natural disasters are:
41) Tulsa, Okla.
42) Long Beach, Calif.
43) Houston, Tex.
44) Los Angeles, Calif.
45) San Jose, Calif.
46) Honolulu, Hawaii
47) San Francisco, Calif.
48) Oakland, Calif.
49) New Orleans, La.
50) Miami, Fla.
The most dangerous places are near the
ocean. The West Coast is along the Pacific Ring of Fire where there's a lot of
volcanic and seismic activity, and the East Coast has an active annual
hurricane season.
I lived in Miami (1964-65) during
Hurricane Cleo (devastating property damage) and in Los Angeles (1975-86)
through many earthquakes (mostly minor), not to mention brush fires, mudslides
and occasional riots.
Another study, listed the same largest
50 American cities, from best to worst, based on "essential
quality-of-life and economic factors that affect your personal
sustainability."
The top 10 cities are:
1) Portland, Ore.
2) San Francisco, Calif.
3) Seattle, Wash.
4) Chicago, Ill.
5) Oakland, Calif.
6) New York City, N.Y.
7) Boston, Mass.
8) Philadelphia, Penn.
9) Denver, Colo.
10) Minneapolis, Minn.
The 10 least favorable cities are:
41) Arlington, Tex.
42) Nashville, Tenn.
43) Detroit, Mich.
44) Memphis, Tenn.
45) Indianapolis, Ind.
46) Fort Worth, Tex.
47) Mesa, Ariz.
48) Virginia Beach, Va.
49) Oklahoma City, Okla.
50) Columbus, Ohio.
Utilizing the above criteria,
Minneapolis appears to be the best place to live. Minnesota is second in terms
of life span, plus Minneapolis is in the top ten of the safest cities and in the
top ten of the most sustainable cities.
I lived in the Minneapolis metropolitan
area in 1956-64 and 1968-75. It's a great place, but very cold in the winter
and the summers are infested with the Minnesota state bird, more commonly known
as the mosquito.
These days, I’m in the Ozark Mountains
of northern Arkansas, where the terrain is hilly, housing is affordable,
weather is fairly moderate and the women are definitely earthy. I’ll probably
remain here for a long time.
The one place you don't want to live is
anywhere near me, especially if you have noisy kids or wind chimes.
WHERE TO DIE
Every living thing in this dimension
suffers from extinction. Death is a part of life -- it’s merely a matter of
when and how.
“There are worse things than death,
like spending an afternoon with an insurance salesman.” Woody Allen
A coward dies a thousand deaths, the
brave die but once.
All the world is a stage, and all the
men and women merely players.
Life is a three-act play -- birth,
death and everything else in between.
When the final curtain drops on the
players, the audience applauds and life goes on.
Forbes Magazine, ever eager to promote
optimal decision-making, has recently ranked the best places to die. The
results are based on the following five categories with the weighted percentage
of importance in parenthesis.
- (44 percent) Health Care Quality – How well patients were treated for a variety of diseases based on the latest available data originally published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
- (22 percent) Cancer Deaths in Hospitals, Nursing Homes, or at Home – Researchers at Brown University tracked where cancer patients were likely to die (home being the preferred choice).
- (22 percent) Percent of Medicare Patients using Hospice in the Last Year of life – Data from the Dartmouth Atlas of Health based on the percentage of Medicare patients cared for at home in the last year of life.
- (8 percent) Legal Protection – Based on an American Bar Association report on law and aging which rates each state in terms of quality and comprehensiveness of law for the elderly.
- (4 percent) Estate Taxes – Computed, by state, for an estate worth $10 million legated by the widow or widower to their direct heirs, based on each individual state's estate and gift tax code.
For those concerned about such matters,
perhaps you should switch to a decaf.
The top places to die are:
1) Utah
2) Oregon
3) Delaware
4) Colorado
5) Hawaii
6) New Hampshire
7) Iowa
8) North Dakota
9) Vermont
10) Montana
Apparently, Utah is the best place to
die. I've been to Utah and would wholeheartedly agree. If I’m not mistaken,
Utah is a Ute Indian word meaning land of salt and boredom. According to Mormon
folklore, Utah is the land nobody wanted. But the Mormons yearned for a place
where they could practice their religion without interference from the outside
world, so they settled in the barren desert and set up shop. They frown on
alcohol and gambling, but tend to have lots of kids -- not much else to do.
As reported above, based on longevity
Utah was third, behind Hawaii and Minnesota, as the number one state in which
to live. In Utah, you will live longer than almost anywhere else in the country
and it’s the number one place to die (based on the above criteria). If you are
a Latter-day Saint, you will fit right in. If you are any other form of Saint,
you should probably practice your sainthood elsewhere.
The following states are at the bottom
of the list. If you live in one of these states, you might consider moving to
Salt Lake City and joining the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
45) Texas
46) New Jersey
47) Mississippi
48) Louisiana
49) Ohio
50) Illinois
Birth is a blessed gift, death is
inevitable and everything else in between is up to us. You can either live life
to the fullest or screw it all up. In the end all that truly matters is the
impact, or lack thereof, you left on the world. But don't worry too much about the end of
existence in this dimension. It's just another phase we go through on the eternal
sojourn of the soul into the Infinite.
And eternity is a very long time,
especially toward the end.
___________
Quote for the Day – "Either he's
dead or my watch stopped." Groucho Marx
___________
Bret Burquest is the author of 12 books. He lives in the Ozark
Mountains with a few dogs and where earthy women roam in hilly terrain.
___________
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