Last week, I went to the funeral of a friend's 100-year-old mother. It was sad, and I will sorely miss her, but the service was not tragic. In fact, it was uplifting, a lesson on a life well lived.

What impressed me at the service was hearing her friends describe how she'd become a passionate student, collector and supporter of contemporary fine craft, including works in glass, ceramics, wood and fiber art.

I don't always see eye to eye with Bill Gates, but I do agree with what he said here: "You don't really start getting old until you stop learning." Dorothy never did grow old. Her body just wore out a century after she was born.

A British study that followed over 6,000 adults over the age of 50 for 14 years. It found those who went to a museum or other cultural venues at least every few months faced a 31% lower risk of dying. The researchers accounted for differences in health, wealth and education.

Americans who undertake five to 10 hours of moderate physical activity per week have a 26% to 31% lower risk of dying. That's strikingly similar to the findings for museum attendance and other cultural activities. Could exercising your brain be as good for longevity as exercising your body?

This kind of mental exercise applies to more than showing up at museums. For example, adult book readers were 20% less likely to die during a 12-year study conducted by Yale University, again after adjusting for factors such as health, education and wealth.

In Norway, 68% of adults read books, and 46% of Norwegians visited a museum last year. In the U.S., 48% read a book for pleasure according to a 2022 survey, and in a 2025 survey, 33% had made it to a museum in the previous 12 months. The life expectancy in Norway is more than four years longer than in the U.S. even while the U.S. spends over 50% more per capita on healthcare.

We pour trillions into healthcare in this country to fight disease. Maybe we'd get more bang for our buck by encouraging Americans to use their brains.

Even as the costs of healthcare go up in the U.S., American schools face shortages in arts education funding. To take one example, in Tennessee during the 2024-25 school year, 15.2% of schools offered no arts courses, and in schools with high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students, 22.4% of students lacked arts access. Poorer communities have fewer cultural opportunities.

Fewer students are being taught to read and enjoy books. A study released this year by the RAND Corporation found middle and high school English teachers assigned an average of only four complete books a year. Students in less advantaged schools were assigned even fewer. Maryanne Wolf, a Harvard-trained neuroscientist at UCLA, told the Associated Press that deep reading enhances critical thinking. "We must give our young an opportunity to understand who others are, not through little snapshots, but through immersion into the lives and thoughts and feelings of others," Wolf said.

My wife has belonged to the same book group for over 30 years. I, myself, am taking a class with college undergrads on classic Russian literature of the 19th century. I've reached page 671 of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" with about 150 pages left to go. I'm not reading to live longer. I'm reading to understand how other people live, to see inside them. And I'm learning just as much by listening to the students in the class as by reading the classic novel itself.

My daughter once called while I was visiting the local art museum. "What are you doing?" she asked. "You were there with me last month." I told her I see the art on the walls at home every day. Given that, a museum visit every four weeks or so did not seem excessive.

Each year, former President Barack Obama publishes his summer reading list. Bravo. In 2016, current President Donald Trump said when it came to reading books, "I don't have the time." Last year, his administration proposed eliminating federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Congress refused.

This is not money wasted. Reading, attending cultural institutions such as museums, and enjoying the arts enrich our years. As a bonus, they may even lead to longer, healthier lives.

Dorothy didn't merely pass the time as she grew older. She embraced new passions.

Thank you for your example, Dorothy. I plan on following it.

A renaissance man, Keith Raffel has served as the senior counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, started a successful internet software company, and had six books published including five novels and a collection of his columns. He currently spends the academic year as a resident scholar at Harvard. You can learn more about him at keithraffel.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at creators.com.

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