The Health of Nations

After a recent visit to the family physician in which I learned that my blood pressure has crept to a dangerously high level, I’ve jumped feet-first into the quarry of healthy living.

One thought that keeps occurring to me as I work to live in the world of vegan diet and increased exercise is just how crazy it is that we pay to make ourselves sick. On a recent trip to Guatemala, I noticed an alarming increase in the number of youth smoking and was very disappointed to witness the explosive growth of McDonald’s and other fast food chains. While there, I was studying possible solutions to the increasing water crisis provoked by mining and the desire to support the economic growth of manufacturing sectors outside of the region. Looking at things like the astronomical profits of mining companies that destroy not only mountains but people’s lives and thousands of years of cultural heritage, and the purveyors of pharmaceutical companies that engage in Machiavellian maneuvers to limit the public’s awareness of natural remedies, it truly challenges one’s belief in humanity that doing wrong is so profitable, while struggling to do good is so monumentally more difficult.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, evil is seen as something that is delicious, beautiful, and desirable. In many Native American cultures, that which can be conceived of as evil is engaging in behavior that is out of balance. It is interesting to note that while money isn’t evil, people will do evil things to obtain it. Something that I have learned from working in the highlands is that words mean much less than actions. Frequently we are criticized by faith-based groups for not being loud enough, while secularly minded folks feel that we are too much compromised by our individual faiths.

In our work, we find that if only we organized projects to support the status quo, realized programming to benefit private interests, or enabled people to feel good while avoiding sticky ethical issues of social justice, we could be financially well remunerated. I believe this really gets at our struggle in the 21st century- How do we recapitalize the social capital that is diminished in the pursuit of the material success that has become the new religion?

For me, it’s listening to my Grandmothers. Of all those I have heard, none are wiser, more centered, and more well-adjusted than they.