My Hometown
Recent media attention has been brought to
bear on The Villages, where I and about 130,000 others live, because three
residents have been identified as having voted illegally. There are several
issues I have with the coverage. The Villages, for those who don’t know, is an
age 55 plus community in Central Florida northwest of Orlando. The name stems
from the original design of small, localized communities, or “villages,”
clustered around what has grown to four town centers. Town centers have
entertainment venues such as movie houses, restaurants, etc.) The Villages has
taken Sumter County Florida from poorest to one of the richest counties in the
state. Part of this reflects that fact that we all pay school tax but none of
us have kids in school.
Back to the issue: First off, that (three out
of 130,000) represents a whopping .00023 percent of the residents and all three
were seasonal and voted both here and in their home state. This is probably the
lowest actual statistic for illegal voting to be found in any similar sized
population sample. They all did vote Republican, by the way but some reports
seemed to stress the party affiliation as if the Villages were entirely
Republican, which it is not. Rather the partisan split here is about 55% Red,
45% Blue and, as an aside, several life-long Republicans I personally interact
with would have eaten broken glass rather than vote for the ex-President, party
notwithstanding.
Second, and
even more egregiously in error, was one article which cited “The hedonistic
Villages.” In the opening sentence! While definitions vary. The implication is
that much of what all residents do is somehow on or over the borderline of
“respectable” behavior. Secondarily, it implies dedication to self-pleasure
over all else.
As an
eleven-year resident, I can categorically call bullshit on that implication.
Villagers are, as a whole, a health conscious and physically active community
with the following indices: More, and more active, churches that any similar
sized area in the state. Far more volunteerism via service clubs such as Churches,
Rotary and Lions and more than that through individual volunteerism such as
mentoring at risk students, meals for homebound individuals, and even outreach
programs related to families living off the grid in the Ocala National Forest.
University of
Florida studies over two decades have found The Villages as a demographic to be
the healthiest senior population in America. It’s easy to figure out why that
is. There are age group specific men’s and women’s softball leagues, numerous
yoga, and many other exercise classes at all the regional recreation centers as
well as water aerobics and other low impact fitness regimes. On days when
I have an early tee time (we have more
holes of golf than anywhere else in the world) I will see, on my way to the
course, numerous dogs walking their owners, frequently in twos and threes,
runners, joggers, speed walkers and every type of bicycle imaginable from
recumbent to two passenger tandems as well as the ubiquitous racing bikes,
whose pelotons are out early in groups of 10 to 30 riders. All day at the
regional rec centers one hears the sound of pickleball, a lower impact tennis
sport as well as regular tennis. There are too many sport and family swimming
pools to count. Bocce courts (and leagues) abound as do shuffleboard and
petanqe courts.
Villagers
routinely bring home a huge medal count from both Florida and National Senior
Games annually.
So why the
“hedonistic” label? In brief, a book and a movie painted the entire population
with a brush which bears little or no semblance to the truth. The book,
entitled “Leisureville” was written by an individual whose stated viewpoint was
that Seniors should remain in their local communities until they move to
assisted living or whatever lies in store. Of course, this also means that for
many, if not most, an end game of isolation, boredom and, in too many, cases
lethargy and physical decline due primarily to inactivity. As a backhanded
swipe, since his premise is tragically flawed, he also decided to find several
sexually promiscuous residents (one actually, a single male who hung out (not
literally, thank you) at a local watering hole and often hooked up with
someone. He then, by implication, left the impression that The Villages is
little more than a giant swinger’s club. T’ain’t even remotely such.
Now here’s the
rub: the author apparently believes this behavior, not so uncommon to 20 to 30
to 40 something single males in bars across Orlando or any place with a one
hundred thousand plus population, is scandalous for fifty-five plus consenting
individuals. There are several things wrong here. The man interviewed cited a
“ten women for every man” gender distribution, which is actually about a “ten
to nine” proportion, so his narrative begins with a lie. If I picked one male
slut out of a mixed group of 20 to 40-year-olds in Orlando and extrapolated
that to the entire population, I would be laughed out of town.
Additionally,
while, in the first place, what any consenting age adults do is their business,
regardless of age, in my 11 years as a resident I have never seen or even heard
anecdotal confirmation of any behavior similar to what the author of
Leisureville would like the reader to believe is commonplace.
The film I
referred to is a later pseudo-documentary where the filmmaker managed to find
four somewhat pathetic individuals who were less than happy with their lives
and happened to live in the Villages. Their litanies of woe were not unique
and, even more to the point, not even actually related to their living here.
Nevertheless, while not as bad or outright fallacious as Leisureville, the film
maker’s intent seemed to be to somehow link all these individual’s (4 out of
over 100,000, remember!) to their living in the Villages. If that were true,
why not move? (Because it isn’t true) _
It seems to me
that the real issue of dealing with the myths surrounding The Villages can best
be banished by observing firsthand and that is what Dave Barry (you know, a
real author from Florida with published creds?) did. In his recent book “Best
State Ever” he recounts a three day stay here while preparing the text. While
acknowledging that he had heard the “Leisureville” claims of debauchery, he
essentially calls bullshit on it all. In fact, the only even close to negative
comment (and it was tongue in cheek) is that line dancers at the town squares
even line dance to slow numbers. (it’s true!)
So meanwhile,
here we are. So, what is there to do? There is some sort of live theatrical
and/or musical event essentially every night during the winter months,
including a Broadway season package. Here is a snapshot from Monday December
13th. On that night, Emily and I went to a Classic Albums Live presentation of
Led Zeppelin IV at the eight hundred seat Savannah Center (superb!). The Studio
Theater (a two hundred or so seat “Black Box”) had a play entitled “The Cake”
and the Polo Grounds hosted an open-air golf cart drive in concert by Absolute
Queen, a really good tribute band from Tampa. Meanwhile at the Sharon Morse
theater, a state-of-the-art 1200 seat venue, David Foster and (wife) Kathryn
McPhee were in concert. If none of those suited, there were live bands at all
three town centers as there are every night from 5 to 9 pm.
Of course, there
numerous daytime things to do, from quilting guilds, discussion groups, clubs
of all descriptions, to choral groups, various instrumental groups from brass
bands to chamber orchestras (we have a ton of retired symphonic players here)
drama clubs, continuing education courses, book clubs, various Trivia groups,
and the list goes on.
A I reflect on my grandparents’ senior years, I realize how
much has changed regarding the “place” of seniors in society and now that I am
one, at age 79, I realize just how important remaining active and engaged is.
The Villages actually revolves around that concept. And just for the record, in
11 years I have never been accosted by any roving gangs of sex mad grannies.
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