Are we really at a point in this country where we are considered some of the unhealthiest people on the planet, where rather than address our issues as a nation and try and support and help one another towards healthier lifestyles, we're more offended by someone changing up our kids school lunch menu to include healthy foods, or a work advocating for group exercise programs, or a friend offering to help us workout at the gym, than we are our declining health.
Very few people on planet earth are an island unto themselves where the actions of others have zero effect on anything. When a parent continues to stuff their kids with junk food to the point of obesity, that kid goes to school, often gets bullied, has low self esteem, and tends to not workout or exercise leading to a lifetime of obesity and obesity related problems. When those who smoke excessively or are obese due to preventable measures (not genetic/medical issues), we all end up paying for their care for something we have a means to stop or at least lesson the effects of what they are doing. When we ignore the needs of the mentally ill, and offer no help or means to get help, they often take it out on others or themselves as we've seen an alarming number of cases in recent years.
Why as a nation do we feel we need to fight against every single measure that can help us all in the name of freedom and self-sufficiency. We refuse to seek or accept help from others and then go on rants about how we're being shamed for those bad habits we know are our problems or we disappear when it's time to vote for programs to help us get healthy as a community. We admit these problems to ourselves, but when others point them out and try to help or advocate for voting, it's how dare you, and you're the bad person here, or I'm not going to vote but complain later.
What is the end game there? Why shouldn't we want people to get healthy so that they can lead long productive and healthy lives for themselves and their families. Not everything is about shaming or blaming or bullying. I know many a community program where people show up like this is a waste of time, when these are people who are trying to help them get better. These same people complain all the time that the gym is too expensive or they can't afford treatment, and then when it's offered for free or heavily discounted, it's like a joke or something that won't last. If programs there for you are treated as such, they will and do stop coming and offering help.
We need to be less apathetic towards our declining health because it's not helping us to live in denial or to hide behind campaigns about shame. You can talk about shame until your face turns blue, but at the end of the day, you should be far more worried about how to get yourself into a healthy place mentally and physically where it stops being about everyone else and starts being about acknowledging that you can get healthy if you do something about it other than just complain and accept help from those that want to see you do better and feel better.
I know no one in life that has been through some tough situations be it depression, obesity, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc, who has gotten healthy, and then regretted it. We should advocate for taking responsibility for ourselves and working on our collective health because it means something to communities to be able to live lives where they aren't chained down and prevented from living their lives by their own bodies or minds or medications that can be stopped by simply leading a more active and healthy lifestyle. We should spend far less time on shame campaigns, and far more on getting mental health services into communities, and getting in urban gardens, and creating free or reduced cost health programming. Those are the things that will help you and in turn help others.
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