Better start putting more handicap parking spaces, more spots in movie theatres for people with disabilities, more ramps instead of stairs, and well, just more. The disability population is growing. Not only from more accidents due to inattentive driving (texting or talking on a cell phone), but from lack of self-worth. Welcome in the “I don’t care” generations.
In your local news, you’ll learn of people who caused accidents from aggressive or inattentive driving. Some leading to death or disability. But the story you don’t hear much is about the enlarging of America. Let me rephrase that. Among some of the growing disabilities are heart disease, arthritis, and depression, just to mention a few.
Problem is, when people go to the doctors, some doctors are hesitant to bring up these issues, because they’re afraid their patients may become offended. But what’s worse, offending someone or saving their life? I suppose, if you think of it another way, now people making bigger cars, bigger wheelchairs, bigger caskets, and heart doctors can all make more money and have job security if no one wants to talk about it. Oh, and don’t forget about rising insurance costs for gastric bypass (which is not a stand alone solution), liposuction, and more.
I’m not into always giving props to tv shows, cause most of the time they are simply entertainment or they are trying to sell you something. But there is one show I’ve been tuning into, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. He’s using real people and real examples to show what is happening in America. If you’ve missed an episode, you can catch them on abc.com or hulu.com. In this week’s episode, he took a local DJ who thinks Jamie is wasting his time, to a local mortuary. There the owners talked about larger caskets and that cemeteries are starting to require two grave sites for larger Americans.
What you don’t see in this show is the people struggling with depression. This is a major disability that keeps people from wanting to do things, especially improving their own situation. If untreated, depression can lead to suicide.
So, what can we do? Plenty. First off, I love pizza like the next person, but our own eating habits have lead to the direction America is heading. Let’s not just start pointing fingers. Let’s look for the solutions. It starts in the home and then continues in the schools and the cafeteria’s in our work environments. It’s easy to grab a pizza or chicken nuggets and prepare and eat them, but all the processing that goes into them is not good for us. I’ll let you do your own research on what goes into our food.
It’s finding a balance from all the food groups that makes for a healthy meal. In some of my past articles, you’ll find some recipes and tips and a simple search of the web will bring up thousands of good eats. But it’s going to take work. As I started this article, I talked about the I don’t care generations. This is what we have to overcome. We need to care, not only for ourselves and our health, but the health of others. For the longest time our mortality age has increased, but if we keep going in this negative direction, Americans are dying earlier and earlier. Less time to really get out and enjoy what life has to offer. Yes, pizza has it’s pleasure, but it also has it’s place among what we eat, in moderation.
Now go out, challenge yourself to treat yourself better and help others. Share this story, let them know you care.
