Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Root of it all

So to my knowledge, when an average person views a problem, they try to make the symptoms better versus actually getting to the root of the problem. Before I dive into more complex issues, let me discuss an simple one.

1.) Take the common cold, we don't have the ability to knock out a cold once it has hit us it actually has to take its course. Granted we can make it better by not aggravating it by sleeping a lot, eating healthy and taking a lot of vitamins. However, when most of us get a cold we take cold medicine to mask the symptoms of the cold so that we don't have to deal with it. Instead of slowing down to get rid of the cold quicker, we treat the symptoms and mask them and then wonder why it takes so freaking long to get rid of a cold, when really if we had slept a little more our body would have the ability to overcome it. Believe me I'm definitely guilty of this even though I know better

2.)The problem of cancer. While cancer does suck, and sometimes the cause is very difficult to pinpoint, especially in a society where everything adds to the cancer factor. And yes, it is great that people can overcome it with treatment, I am not undermining that it good to research drugs to help people overcome it. However, I do think we need to do much more research on what we can avoid or change to prevent more cases of cancer, and you know what actually follow through with these changes in habit.
A.) Wear sunscreen! If you are gonna be outside and its not pouring rain or dark, apply regularly. The sun is a major cause for skin cancer, so yeah protect yourself, and if you don't like sunscreen where more clothes, it wouldn't hurt to be a little more modest anyway. Getting that perfect tan is just going to cause issues later.
B.) Stop taking hormonal birth control! It is a known breast cancer causing agent. The risk is not worth the promiscuity. And it will also has the potential to mess you up once you decide you want a child. (think of how much money goes into fertility treatments, that we could be saving the starving of the developing countries!)
C.) Take public transit when possible! It reduces all those lovely hazardous chemicals that our body takes in that are foreign to it that it has to fight off to not become degenerate cancer cells. More research definitely needs to be done here, I hope that I am somehow part of that initiative.
D.)Don't smoke! Yeah this is just a given with lung cancer, really you are missing part of your brain if you smoke and don't think its gonna effect you later.
E.)Don't get drunk! Want to keep that thing called a liver, well you know, then really limit your alcohol consumption.

And as you can see I could go on, but I won't on the cancer effect. I just sometimes think its amazing how many bad choices people will make and assume there are no concequences.

3.)My final point, valid for the election season, is the dignity of Life. Apparently the majority of our culture seems to have little value for the smallest and the weakest of us all. It reminds me of a quote "First they came for the socialist, and I did not speak out--because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me--and there was no one left for me." -Pastor Martin Niemoller, in reference to his holocaust experience. Pretty much we have a eugenics, holocaust going on again and it is masked as choice. And at the same time most people are in the attitude of caring for self over others as well. We see all these problems that basically have stemmed from the lack of value for life. Money becomes more important, pleasure becomes more important, the environment is more important, health care is more important, bragging rights are more important. Anything is more important than defending life. Its a sad culture we live in when we can only think of how to stop the fruits of God versus embracing them. When we turn so far away from the design that God gave us and we wonder why there is so much pain the world, why so much crime, why so much poverty, or so much greed. My husband makes a good point about social security, that we have ourselves eliminated it as being anything due to our greed and misguides with the dignity of life. Now to abortion, while abortion isn't the only life issue, you have embryonic stem cell use and euthanasia and the death penalty, all of which when practice devalue life greatly, it is something we can do something about. Because at the root of it is how we value the life of another. We need to defend the littlest and the weakest among us to begin to change the current culture of death into one of life.

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