-by Bill Watkins 7/31/2020
Death stats are reported by folks who believe deeply in death. Physical death. That’s it, we’re done, the physical is all… But isn’t there another way to live and see life, death and health? The spiritual way, one under-represented right now in governments world-wide?
Back when I still believed in the invalid United States of America, I wrote an article entitled “What is Health?” which included Twitter poll results from users, who shared their definitions:
1. Bill Watkins: “Health is a Peace of Mind, Knowing I did the best I could to be the best person I was capable of becoming in all my affairs.”
2. “Duck,” Anti-Circumcision Activist: “Health is discovering yourself and feeding your truth.”
3. Online T-shirt Salesman: “Health means your state of being and ability to function naturally.”
4. Aaron V. from Lake Tahoe: “Health is natural whole foods, clean water, clean air, a nature soundscape with wildlife, good social relationships, the freedom to explore and then see self-improvement or progress, and having a shelter or sanctuary where one can retreat to and be certain to have all of those things despite what else is going on in the world.”
5 Sonya on Twitter: “I believe saying ‘I am healthy’ is relative to your own circumstances. For me, I feel health is a state of physical wellness as well as mental wellness. I believe it’s hard to say I am healthy if either one is compromised to a degree where we are not enjoying living our lives. If we are feeling the best we can for our age and capacity – in that everything is functioning as well as can be expected – and we are getting through each and every day with quality of life in tact, even if it has to be aided by medication, then to me that is healthy. If body and mind are still functioning well enough for me to enjoy life, then I am healthy.”
6. College Newspaper Staff: “I’d say health is a state of being. I think it’s a perceived value of physical, emotional, and mental stability and regularity for each individual person. The achievement of ‘healthy’ will differ from person to person based on lifestyle, availability of nourishment and space, and personality.”
7. Dan R., Twitter: “Being good in mind body and soul.”
8. Yvonne on Twitter: “Health is a balance of spiritual, mental and physical well-being”
9. Anastacia on Twitter: “Health to me means that I’m happy, I am not sick, I can laugh with out being in pain.”
10. Poetry Group on Twitter: “Health is the harmony of our body.”
11. Carlos M. on Twitter: “Wellness is a holistic approach to life that includes diet and exercise first with traditional medical care second. ”
12. Ariel B. on Twitter: “Health is Peace of Mind.”
13. Marion W. on Twitter: “Time set aside in solitude and/or quietness to grow, reflect, write and decompress.”
And… how about Google?
14. Google: “Health is the state of being free from illness or injury.”
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A lot of different perspectives, so why do governments think they can represent us all on this issue? They stay away from mixing the state with religion, but aren’t they coming across many of our personal, even religious beliefs by putting their hands into such a controversial bowl of heaven keys?
“Peace of mind” is a short version of my definition for health, as it was for one of my Twitter poll participants—something that has little to do with Western medicine’s extracting blood, focusing on the physical, administering drugs. Core to the Western medical business is core to religion: giving folks peace of mind, that they will heal from hardship. Religion goes on to speak of heaven, doctors stop at peace… Maybe those two words and concepts are in some ways interchangeable.
But in neither heaven nor earth will it ever be right to decide someone else’s health path, if that someone is an adult of sound mind. Who should decide mental soundness? I’d say, based on my Twitter poll and personal conviction, more people should be involved in health decisions, from different fields of study, and different beliefs. There is more to heaven, earth, and health than is cooked up in Western medicine’s cake, and it’s time governments recognize that, call out doctors for the fallible people they are. They have fancy degrees, I concede the hard work that goes into them, but who can say something divine or perfect grants them?
To me health is a peace of mind, knowing I did my best to be the best person I’m capable of becoming—a spiritual concept, borrowed shamelessly from the late, great John Wooden. “Death” to this humble citizen of Mexico, the invalid United States and someday England: doesn’t exist, if with faith in God you lived a good life. “No good thing ever dies,” mused Stephen King once upon a time, and I agree. So why all the talk of “Covid deaths?” Did those souls not live? Why not talk about their life? Where is the gratitude for the air we breathe, for the lives we get to live, for our amazing immune systems? If this was our last day to live on earth, what would you do with it? Panic? Complain about death? Whine about a virus?
Not me. The above set of questions reminds me of my old life, one in which I was spiritually dead, playing sports and drinking alcohol instead of loving my parents, life, a woman, and being an honest, honorable person. There are worse things than physical death… Among them, a life in fear, and as such out of love—if you adhere to St. Paul’s ideal. So love life! Live today!! Say thanks to what you say thanks to, because tomorrow is a big question mark, salvation for me in peace of mind, something I’ll never get wearing a mask or fearing my fellow man for any reason whatsoever.
Fear is the killer, folks, FDR echoed here… Fear is the virus. Inoculate yourself against it by living great days in faith, in love and free of alcohol or drugs… Thanks for your attention, an open mind following truth as a key to serenity, willingness putting us on the road, proper relations with our fellows and the earth a guarantee for eternal life. Never death
Bill Watkins, Traveling Poet 