The mythical Fountain of Youth is a legend that is known all around the world. The Fountain of Youth is said to have rejuvenating qualities. It can restore the youth of old men and women. Also, it is reported to bring about healing. People, throughout history, have speculated on the actual existence of this mythical fountain. Others have even gone in search of it, never to be heard from again. This legend has captivated and intrigued the world for many centuries. The Fountain of Youth legend has much history and has influenced the world throughout time.
The Fountain of Youth myth has been mentioned numerous times throughout history. Mythologies from different cultures had legends about waters that can give eternal life or bring about healing. Herodotus, the Greek historian, had his own theories about the location of the fountain of youth. He claimed that the fountain could be found somewhere in Ethiopia. The Fountain of Youth may also have roots in the Bible. In the New Testament, Jesus healed people from their disabilities and sicknesses in pools or bodies of water. Europeans had heard of the Fountain of Youth myth for many centuries. It appeared in many works of literature such as Alexander Romance and stories about King Prester John. When the New World was discovered, Europeans deduced that the fountain could be found in the New World’s unexplored lands. Also, when Spanish explorers came to the New World, the Indians told them many tales about the Fountain of Youth. Thus, these explorers came to the conclusion that the fountain could be found somewhere in the New World. Many of the Indian tribes in the Americas had their own legends about the location of the fountain. Sadly many of these myths have disappeare...
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There are No Children Here; by Alex Kotlowitz is a story about two brothers and their mother, Pharaoh, Lafayette and LaJoe Rivers and them growing up in the late 1980's in the (HHH) Henry Horner Homes, a housing project in Chicago. In the story the boys try to retain their youthfulness while they see constant gang violence, death of people close to them and their brother is in jail and their dad is struggling with drug addiction.
Rivers start in mountains, then they trickle methodically down its side as a creek, and when many of these meet a river is formed. These rivers then fill up the ocean, which then evaporates and turns into rain which starts the process over. This is the water cycle. But the water cycle is very similar to human life. One starts as an ignorant, uneducated being, but then through much hardship and austerity we gain knowledge as a river. Finally we pass this knowledge on to our offspring, and the cycle begins anew. This is the life cycle which is beautifully illustrated in Herman Hess’s Siddhartha, where revelation awaits in the flow of time.
become older, and how they look back at their youth. Without similes like this, the
In this essay I will be discussing my concept of childhood and how it compares to my understanding of the theories and concepts of John Locke and John Wesley. I have chosen to look at these two theorists as although they lived in similar times their theories and concepts on children were influenced by very different factors and so differ greatly from each other and in most respects differ from my own concepts. My concept of childhood is influenced by personal experience and the views of my parent.
...ss the lifespan. Late adolescence and early adulthood are periods when individuals are drunk with future time. Senses of immortality are lost during the middle years, when those of one's parents' generation routinely die (and one realizes that one is next up to bat with the Grim Reaper) and when the first of one's friendship circle dies of "natural causes." In old age, individuals' futurity dissolves as their time runs out.
The search for the "fountain of youth" or the "elixir of life" is something that we have read about in many myths and fiction stories throughout the year. They are also things real life explorers looked for dating back centuries, the most famous of which is Ponce de Leon whose search of this elusive fountain took him to Florida in the late 1400 's and early 1500 's. However, He was not the first looking for this fountain that is said to give you the power of endless youth, the desire to stay young is a desire that may date back to the beginning of mankind itself. Although, as civilization has advanced through the centuries most people have given up on magical fountain and elixirs that extends your life while making you young again, and turned to
Common sense seems to dictate that we are all going to die one day. As we all get older we crave to keep our youth, and to stay young forever is the ultimate dream. The thought of a possible immortality is just an added benefit. Even though we have strived towards this goal for centuries, have we obtained advances in successfully staying young forever? In Bill Gifford’s book “Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying)” he explores these ideas of life and aging further. In this novel, he goes on a journey to try and debunk the mysteries and questions behind the new science of aging. He gathers information from tests and scientists from around the country to discover what really works to prevent or delay aging and what is just a hopeful hoax. He helps us figure out why we age and why aging
The search for the fountain of youth has produced many multi-billion dollar corporations across the globe, from pharmaceutical companies to insurance agencies. The large profits these companies report yields incredible power and influence. Pharmaceutical conglomerates introduce new drugs worldwide targeted directly to those who are aging. Packaging is covered front to back with the fine print of the drugs’ possible side-affects, many sound more terrifying than actually just living with the condition. Television campaigns touch on the vulnerabilities and insecurities that threaten quality of life when one is aging, and can be down right embarrassing. The low voiced, quick speed of the drug disclaimer always ends instructing patients to ‘Ask your doctor if xxx is right for you…”
"Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too." So often, people look back upon their youth and wish that they still had it before them. Our natural tendency is to fear old age, to see it as the precursor to death, rather than a time of life, desirable in its own right. However, in John Keats' poem, To Autumn, he urges us not to take this view, but to see old age as a beautiful and enviable state of life, rather than something to be feared.
The article “What is Successful Aging”, thoroughly explained the author’s thoughts on what aging successfully actually means. I think it is extremely vital to try our best to be content with our lives and what we have done at a later age. Integrity versus despair, as we learned in class kept coming to mind while reading the article. It is important that when one reaches this age he or she doesn’t feel like there is more to look back on than to look forward to. I agreed with the author’s views on self-efficacy and different opportunities in aging successfully.
play a large part in our health and our developmental status. The role of age
Childhood, a time of adventure; a time when the world is large and mysterious, and there is always more explore; a time when there is no wrong that could not be righted by a mother's kiss. This is the childhood described by Robert Frost. He describes this through a portrayal of the child's game of riding birches; a careful climb, a well timed jump, and an exhilarating swing. Then he describes the loss when one ages. How one by one this boy subdues the trees until there are none left to swing from. Frost then finishes off by showing his longing to return to those days.
Since the dawn of time, the desire for immortality and eternal beauty has all but governed humans as a species. A fallacy that such a thing could be procured as the proverbial fountain of youth has consumed, destroyed, and even sent some into a spiraling descent of madness. From the destitute to the affluent and everyone between, no one has ever fully escaped the hypnotic lure of the notion of being forever young and beautiful. The journey to acquire such an unattainable object has even motivated some to implement unspeakable and deplorable acts against their own kind. One individual in particular, a late Hungarian Countess by the name of Elizabeth Bathory, is a perfect example of lust for perfection and beauty taken too far.
In the eyes of a child, there is joy, there is laughter. But as time ages us, as soon as we flowered and became grown-ups the child inside us all fades that we forget that once, we were a child.
Childhood and adulthood are two different, but equally important times in our lives. The special moments such as learning how to ride a bike, or pulling out your teeth, and ding dong ditching your neighbor's house, are all memories that come to mind when thinking about childhood. Graduating high school, applying to college, buying your first car or first house all bring back adulthood recaps of your life, and while both of these are very major and unforgettable moments apart of our lives, I’m going to talk about how similar and different these times really are.