Flu

There is a current panic in Massachusetts over the number of influenza cases. Over 700 cases have been in Boston. This represents less than 0.1% of the population. Media is whipping up the panic but urging everyone to get a flu shot right now.

A flu shot administered today will not effectively protect the recipient until 2 weeks from now. Influenza is best avoided by simple daily hygiene. 

This shows that we are more concerned with disease than health. The reliance on vaccines after the fact of an epidemic is reactive, not proactive. Today billions of dollars of resources are devoted to developing an HIV vaccine when HIV can easily be avoided with safe sexual practices and advance testing prior to developing a sexual relationship with someone. 

Disease is a fact of life. Unfortunately, health isn't. Health requires daily health practice. No vaccine can make up for poor health choices. Smoking, drinking too much alcohol, doing recreational drugs...these practices deplete resistance and immunity to disease. Poor nutrition, often associated with the previously mentioned behaviors, is an open door to disease. Daily exercise has been scientifically proven to boost the immune system. 

Why would anyone choose poor health? The choice of poor health comes in the form of many small daily decisions and mindless habits. Yet it is still a choice by a person who is not already infected with a communicable disease or does not have a genetic disease. I believe being a humanist begins with applying humanist values to my own body first. Educating myself about health, making daily proactive health choices and treating my own body with mindful compassion.