Who Cares or Will Care For You?
Larry Miller
March 19, 2009 I doubt there is anyone who feels more strongly about personal freedoms than I do. Where the problem lies is in the interpretation of freedom as opposed to license. Freedom allows us to do many things, so does license but license also means excessive, undisciplined freedom, the abuse of liberty and expecting to be able to do whatever one pleases regardless of the impact on others and without regard to whether it’s legal or not.
When someone says, “It’s my life and I should be able to do whatever I want to with it,” I agree, but there should be some limitations. If we want to do whatever we want, maybe there should be some form of agreement that is legal and binding that needs to be signed. Once that’s accomplished, we could do anything we want but we’d have no rights and couldn’t get no benefits, like disability (unemployment) insurance, care that’s provided by the state or federal government or be baled out because you made unwise choices, including financial decisions. We do need to have compassion for others but where do we draw the line? Should we be the caregivers for others who haven’t cared for, or have taken care of, themselves?
When we really look at research closely, we find that genetics is a crutch that many of us choose to lean on. If our parents lead an unhealthful lifestyle and we eat the same food as they did, don’t exercise, smoke, do drugs and rev up our blood pressure by the choices we make on a day to day basis the same as our parents did, the connection isn’t genetics or the DNA, it’s in the mind. Are we destined to be feeble after fifty? Maybe that’s only a popular belief because most of society suffers from choices made as children and young adults, when we modeled our beliefs after our elders or thought we were immortal and indestructible, and then continued to unconsciously continue those beliefs throughout our lives. Although it’s difficult, we can change our belief systems.
When we’re young, we think we’re indestructible. As we grow older and increase our knowledge base, we find we aren’t immortal and that the misconceptions from our youth can catch up to us. We don’t have to live the later years of our lives paying for the overdrafts of youth, where our bank account of life is concerned. The human body is a remarkable organism. If we don’t continue doing the things that got us into a poor state of health, we can work our way back to a place of wellness. If we don’t continue to stress our immune systems and regenerative aspects, the body renews itself, some parts faster than others. Overall, we’re completely new in seven years or less, if we don’t continue the abuses.
Are we destined to lose our cognitive abilities, suffer from loss of strength and muscle mass as we age? New research is beginning to find that we do lose some, but not as much as previously believed. They are also finding that genetics play a much smaller part in how we age than was believed in the past.
The United States spends more on health care than any other nation in the world. Are we getting what we pay for? Twenty years ago, ten countries ranked higher in life expectancy than the US. Now, forty-one do! Is there a connection here? The US is the leader in GMO research and GMO food production. The US is the leader in the use of chemicals in and on food products and in everyday living.
An Emory University study conducted last year found that almost twice as many people in the US were found to have heart disease, cancer and arthritis than Europeans of the same age groups. Women in the US are twice as likely to have a stroke than their European counterparts and US males are sixty percent more likely. Twice as many US citizens are obese than those in Europe of the same age groups and, percentage wise, Europeans smoke less.
Some research scientists believe there are three contributing factors to disease. The big three are trauma, toxins (these can be from toxic chemicals in our food, working in a toxic environment, etc.) and last but not the least where health is concerned, is what we choose to believe and our thoughts.
Trauma is usually connected with poor choices we made when we were youths and those we make as adults. Junk food and other toxic factors that we encounter on a daily basis explains the second. How we choose to think, what we choose to believe and how conduct our lives covers the third. When we boil all the factors down, we realize that they are all really just different aspects of the same thing: the lifestyle choices we make and have control over.
If the research scientists are correct, genetics, social circumstances and health care all play a role in living a long and enjoyable life. And, if they are correct, by far the biggest factors are our personal choices and behavior patterns. So, if we don’t want to be a burden on others and have someone care for us when we’re older, maybe we should look at our lifestyles and make choices that embrace life and health as opposed to the outdated death and destruction choices of our past.
Tags: Health , Fitness , Old Age , Senior , Care Giving
