Health is a Human Right
I just drove past the store front with this message painted on the front.
“Health is a Human Right, not a privilege to be purchased.”
The statement is marvelously altruistic and it seems to me difficult to argue with. Even still many must disagree otherwise our society would make it a top priority, along with other basic necessities that give humans peace of mind and would free us to thrive in ways we may not be able to imagine.
But maybe the arguments against it are because its not a simple problem. There are countless ways we promote and support poor health. From cheap, unhealthy, processed foods, to oppressive work schedules, to alcohol and drugs. Industries that profit off of the ills of society. Industries that were born to ease the pain of society, and lead to further problems. They proliferate poor health, delay the necessity to deal with problems that they cover over, and feed off human nature to avoid suffering. In order to really have health for all humans, we would need to address these and many more components.
Health needs to be a priority from the start, not just a priority once we have succumb to major illness.
There are countless programs, organizations, and fields all built around solving this problem. There is not a lack of trying.
What there is a lack of is trust, on an individual basis that we each have the ability, discipline or knowledge to care well for our own health. Our own life. We are plagued with looking to others for answers, and this root of distrust affects all aspects of our lives. That lack of trust is in part societal, as we are trained up to follow. We are given information verses taught to discover it for ourself. We are separated from our nature and divided up into groups who know and groups who don’t. Groups who have and groups who have not. Since it is so normal, since its what we have all known from birth, its really hard to see. Even when someone tells us and it kind of makes sense, we are still stuck because there aren’t other options to break free from the cycle.
Ideally, individuals that see this, and there are plenty who do, make efforts to share it with others. However, often even they are too confined by the structure of society to make the kind of impact they might like.
Life in the Body is an attempt at a bold step towards the ends that Health is a Human Right. From having been trapped in the very cycle of distrust, working to overcome it, to standing outside and wanting something better for all, the only valid option to achieve it, is to be it. What we have learned, we share freely. Truly freely. No one is turned away for lack of financial means. What we have to share is not the answers, but a way to the answers. We have something to give, but it doesn’t belong to us, so how can we sell it to you. We don’t own the human right. No one does. Our way is not the only way. It isn’t trademarked or copyrighted. It can’t be stolen from us. Likewise it isn’t even something we can give you, we can share our experience, we can point you in the right direction, but it is your body you must learn to know. It is your mind you must come to understand. It is your nature you must meet in person to truly find freedom.
It is our experience that each person who gains some freedom, will naturally share that with their friends, and they with their friends. It seems that through that natural spreading, the whole world can change. When that happens, then we will be able to change all components of our society that cause and proliferate poor health, mentally, physically, relationally. It starts with you!