RESPONSIBILITY
Marcus S. Ettinger DC, BSc
Medical Detective and Orange County Chiropractor
During the last 50 years, our planet’s population has been witness to global terrorism, global warming, world-wide glacial melting, over-population, dwindling natural resources, pharmaceutical drugs being consumed like candy, ADD/ADHD, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, Prozac, an epidemic called welfare, morbid obesity, world hunger, blah, blah, blah, and the list goes on. Why have all of these things occurred? The cause is a global pandemic known as, “lack of personal responsibility.” It is an insidious little parasite, immune to all medications, responding only to pro-survival actions.
The dictionary has many definitions for the word “responsible.” The first one fits what I feel I do as a doctor: “legally or ethically accountable for the welfare of another.” When I graduated from college, I swore an oath to be responsible for anyone who sought my care, and I feel I have never violated that oath.
There are two other definitions that fit how I act in my personal life and how others, if responsible, should act. 1) “Involving personal accountability or ability to act without guidance or superior authority.” 2) “Capable of making moral or rational decisions on one’s own, therefore answerable for one’s behavior.”
The reason I am bringing this issue up now, is because the word responsible has been losing its meaning, little by little, year after year, most notably in the last 25 or so years. I have been personally witnessing and feeling the effects of this, in my practice and in my surroundings, for some time now.
In this essay, I am only going to focus on the topic of “health and responsibility.” As for personal responsibility and the other aspects of one’s life, just be honest with yourself. If you haven’t been applying the definitions of responsibility then go for it. The people and the world around you will see the change and acknowledge you for it.
It is my personal opinion that the vast majority of people who are experiencing health related problems are ignoring them; doing nothing or ignoring it (no responsibility); or are placing the total burden of responsibility on a doctor(s) for getting their health back (with drugs and/or surgeries) or maintaining it at a certain, sub-optimal, level (with drugs and/or surgeries). The fact is: Healthy people, I find, just take better care of themselves.
Examples: If you have high “this” or low “that”, take a pill. If it’s clogged, send in Roto-Rooter. If it’s too fast or too slow, take another pill. If you think there may be a problem now or in the future but aren’t sure yet, take a pill just to be on the safe side. If there’s a new symptom that pops-up from taking drug A, don’t stop drug A, because drug B will handle that pesky little side-effect. It’s nothing! It’s just a side-effect to prescription DRUG.
This complacent attitude our society has developed is extremely dangerous, and has accounted for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of needless deaths and hospitalizations, and TWO TRILLION dollars a year ($2,000,000,000,000 – 16% of the USA’s GDP and more than the income produced by France) spent on medications and our American health-care system. Fact: “Medications ONLY treat symptoms, while masking the underlying condition or disease state. Medications do not rebuild or regenerate tissue structure or function.” You can quote me on that the next time your MD writes you a prescription.
Geneticists (doctors who study and research our genetic makeup, DNA, etc…) state that we reach our genetic potential between 30-35 years of age. This means that we are at our peak, our prime at that age. After that, our bodies start to deteriorate. Some of us go through this process very slowly, others quite rapidly. The rate of this deterioration depends slightly on genetics, but the lions share rests on the level of personal responsibility you devote to maintaining your health!
It’s not the sole responsibility of doctors, family, friends, Richard Simons, or Jenny Craig. IT’S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
Taking responsibility for your health has four main components:
First, there is EDUCATION. Educate yourself on diet, anatomy, exercise, what it means to be healthy, or anything else that may benefit you in living a longer and healthier life. You can also hire a coach, like me or another wellness professional, who can guide you in which directions you would like to go, in becoming more personally responsible for your health and well-being.
Second is NUTRITION. The most important point here is to eat to support every cell in your body, not just for the taste or because it’s a good deal. With that said, I am not a sadist. Yes, please, eat for the sheer love of food, one or two meals a week. If you don’t, that’s totally irresponsible in my book. Life is way too short to neglect the finer things in life, and at the same time, too darn short to reduce your life-span by eating like crap.
Third is EXERCISE. If you don’t move it or use it, you WILL lose it! Nothing can be truer. The surest way to get osteoporosis, arthritis, sore joints, weak muscles and tendons, a slow metabolism, dementia, or Alzheimer’s is don’t exercise – that includes your brain as well your special purpose parts.
Fourth is A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT. If you spend a prolonged period of time in an environment (work, home, a friends, in-laws….) that you don’t want to be in, because the people are chronically negative, rude, mean, antagonistic, unethical… toward you or others – get out! If unethical or criminal behavior is occurring in any form – get out! The stress chemicals that will be created inside of you from being in this type of environment will literally accelerate the aging process and weaken your immune system faster than any other factor.
All of the above four components when not actively followed have been proven to weaken the immune system and body, by placing undo negative stress on it.
These four components for taking responsibility of your health may seem obvious to some, and to others they may seem as foreign as learning Russian. For those of you who are taking personal responsibly for your health, I validate your effort. For those of you who believe your body will run forever without any needed adjustment to its present condition or believe that all those aches and pains, stiffness, inability to eat the foods you did when you were younger, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and increased weight are just signs of getting older, and that it’s “inevitable”, you’re wrong or just misinformed.
I hate to say this but it’s the truth, “poor health = “irresponsibility and good health = responsibility.” You, yourself, have personally created your present state of health, knowingly or unknowingly, by lack of following the above four components to health. The good news is that it’s never too late to change your present condition. Recognizing that a problem exists, and also recognizing that a positive change needs to occur is all that is required.
If you, a loved one or friend needs help or just wants an expert opinion, I am just a phone call away. I have helped clients with conditions ranging from Acne to Zoster (Shingles), with an emphasis, lately, on diet, exercise and weight-loss.
©06 January 2009 Marcus Ettinger and AdvancedHealing.Com.
All rights reserved
(no portion of this may be re-printed or used without permission)
©06 January 2009 Marcus Ettinger and AdvancedHealing.Com.
All rights reserved
(no portion of this my be re-printed or used without permission)
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