The World Is Sick

Unfortunately, this is a very true statement right now. The world, that we live in, that we share, that we have worked so hard to create, is very, very sick.

I’m not going to sit here and list the issues, we know what they are. All I know is that I turned on the radio this morning and was overwhelmed with such sadness, because yet another big issue appeared. Like, again? Freakin’ again? How does this keep happening?

I want to present you with an analogy. In this analogy, your body is the world.

So, when your body is sick, you treat it. Right? Whether it is a cold, bacterial infection, chronic illness, broken bone, scratch, cut, abrasion, or whatever. You try to fix it. When a big part of your body is sick, like your stomach is with Crohn’s Disease for example, you can’t just blame one thing. You don’t just blame your stomach, you don’t blame the doctor, you don’t blame what you ate. Because blaming something or someone will not fix the issue. You still have a chronic illness, that at this point in time, has no cure. (Side note: I have Crohn’s Disease, so it is a good example). What does this mean? It means that you have to look at all factors of your life, and see how best you can treat the problem. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you stressed? Have you eaten something you shouldn’t have? Are you getting enough exercise? What about this? What about that? Have you tried this? Questions everywhere! Just to fix one single problem. Your body is where you live, it is where you spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (not including any outer body experiences…). You don’t want to live in a sick body, so you do EVERYTHING you possibly can to make it as well as possible. End of analogy.

The world is where we live, it is where we spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (not including anyone floating around in a tin can far above the world…). So, we should be doing everything we can possibly do to make the world well again. The world is so sick right now, that there are so many questions to be asked. What is happening? Can we stop it? Can we make it better? What can I do? What can we do? Help! But, we need to keep asking the questions, and we need to keep fighting to make our home well again. Obviously, we have not asked the right questions yet, or we have not found any good answers just yet. And, I don’t just mean an answer to the question, because for it to be worthwhile, we need to have an action attached to the answer. Something we can try, and then assess whether it worked or not and why. We need to work out what we can do on an individual level and what we can do collectively. And, I don’t have the answers. Of course I don’t. I feel so small and insignificant in this world with these huge issues. What can I do? For now, I will write this little piece. And hopefully soon, I will find something more to do. Something more than talking with students about important issues. Something more than typing. Something more. Because I must. Because we must.

The world is very, very sick. We can not cure just one aspect of the sickness, we need to approach it holistically.

I hope the world gets better. Because I live in it, and so do the people I care about. We can all be doctors. Let’s try and make the world a little healthier every day.