Inner Environment

July 16, 2010

Balance is key. Not just being able to walk without falling over, though that becomes more of an issue the older we get, balance is the silver bullet to a healthy life. My body got all out of whack a few years ago. Trying to eat vegetarian without realizing I was a diabetic led to a reduced immune system and a likelihood that my body became susceptible to my eventual lymphatic cancer called mantle cell. However, simple research led me to realize heredity was a factor; both parents had cancer – my mom died of lymphatic cancer and my dad lived on one lung for almost 40 years because of losing it to lung cancer. But the research did not stop there. Why did I get cancer in the first place? I called the Center for Cancer and the Environment in Chicago and talked with the head of the center. We determined that my life as an athlete playing on grass fields in the 50-70’s and being around my mom with her bouffant hairstyle and the spray that kept it in place all day had their impact on me. The key ingredient was however, from my perspective, is that I lost my balance.

All work and no play – over-tired and too serious – I began to see the glass half empty rather than relying on my old positive attitude and the theology in seminary that helped guide me through life’s rigors – The theology of Hope by Jurgon Moltmann. Problem was the brain and the body was simultaneously going out of balance. And, then the old cigarette addiction from age 20-40 came into play.

If this old body had not been hit with that little carcinogenic white stick around 30 times a day for years I might have weathered the storm. I can safely say the unintended consequences of all of the above reared their ugly head. I had no idea playing football on turf, or visiting my mom while she was starching her hair, or smoking would have un-tended consequences.

In looking into the idea of a healthy body the challenges mounted. Chemicals in our food, water, and atmosphere are unavoidable. The lure of an addicting substance like tobacco was strong as I matured. In a 1919 magazine called The Veteran there is an article entitled Ask the Returned Doughboy what Tobacco did For Him.

‘Right now the war cry is ‘Anti-tobacco.’ Picture the man who recalls the day in his front line dugout when the ceaseless roar of shell fire would have driven him stark mad had it not been for the occasional drag on cigarettes he happened to have that day. Then consider these same men coming back into America to find that some of the ‘stay at homes’ those for whom he was risking his life in France-have embarked upon a senseless crusade to take away from smokers the one thing more than any other that helped make the war even a little more bearable for America’s fighting men.”

This is humorous to us today, but the article was deadly serious – pun intended. Would it not be fitting that what we produce is not going to kill us? Systemic change is required in industry so as not to put into the environment, either externally or internally gases, chemicals, and ‘crap’ that is going to destroy the very fabric of our lives. The eco systems of the planet, as well as our own eco systems are damaged daily – it is just a question of time before someone you love succumbs with the unintended consequences of putting profit before people, period!

Thus, I advocate a rethinking of all that we manufacture and phase out all that does the human and animal families harm. Period!