.. when it comes to, you name it. That's certainly a broad title alright, but in this bit of observation, I'll finish the sentence, with "health". As a societal observer, not a preacher, I admit, it is not always easy to practice what you would perhaps imagine preaching. For example, we have the power to control many health outcomes by controlling what we eat, drink, smoke, take, or do, or the reverse - what we don't..
This is an overused cliche, but lifelong learning applies to controlling self habits. It can be a slow process when we are accustomed to following the localized customs - as an example, that is - fast food + sugary drinks + lots of booze = fun & happy times. This recipe for a premature personal demise needs some personal reevaluations, if we as individuals are to continue living with good health.
It was sadly ironic in London this summer when a violent and spontaneous rebellion, against the monopolized wealth and "have" financial symbols, arose and was largely perpetrated by angry frustrated youth. One of their targets was a high tech company which made Ipods.. something that many people including youths for sure, choose not to be without. Hmm, so if they were so content to support a rich high company by buying their product, then destroying the institution they helped to make rich seems a tad thoughtless, and pointless.
Their own worst enemy to some degree was arguably themselves. As with health, we wish our health care system were more efficient, but we ourselves to a degree, cause preventable problems, thus causing a huge demand on the health care system. We are all human, and give into a sweet, salty, greasy temptations from time to time.. to time, to time. But we can remind ourselves, that no one is forcing us to eat that pizza, those fries, drink that coke, only we are encouraged to, and it's suggested we do.
Advertisers can be considered corporate Reveens - they have the power of suggestion, and so many are hypnotized into a trance-like state and willfully follow the suggested instructions. As has been mentioned in previous posts at this blog, we individually have the power and potential of self-control, and the potential and ability to analyze what messages, influential forces in society, are suggesting to us. It is ultimately up to us, to consider if these suggestions are for our long-term health or not.
Individually, we can be our own best friend, and not worst enemy.
Showing posts with label self-control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-control. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
There has been so much fighting on George St. that city councillors should rename it Muhammad Alley
Update This was also printed in Saturday's Telegram on Aug. 28.
There have been a couple of good Telegram articles recently about the good and the bad of St. John's famous/infamous George Street. A few hard-hitting messages came through - George St. has an image problem, there is an alarming hard drug problem, and our culture of alcohol glorification show no signs of waning. Police authorities surely have their hands full dealing with weekend brawls, vandalism, noise and unruliness. Councillor Tom Hann saw it first-hand as he took a drive with the RNC 3 am Sat. night. The police say it would be helpful to install closed-circuit television cameras on George St.
Maybe it will deter some potential public brawls on that particular street, but it won't stop people from acting out of control either with drugs, booze, or their inner selves. Our whole culture, whether it's a city, town, or outport, has found the lure of alcohol, well, intoxicating, and from young ages on up, many still glorify it. For better or worse, our realities are influenced by the activities, personalities around us, attitudes, and habits that are powerful in our environments. This particular witness to a culture of over-drinking has noticed that there does not appear to be much emphasis, in general, on self-control. At least it wasn't a topic in my school curriculum, or there were few, if any, public messages about it. As we see, it affects adult behaviour and society in negative ways.
We are all human, and it is not always easy to take control of some habit that we have become accustomed to. However, as we also know, good habits can begin to replace unhealthy ones, and we can control our lives, rather than have negative habits control us. It goes for drugs, alcohol, food, and personal behaviours.
Naturally, parents and guardians have a huge role to play in educating their kids, and imparting messages of self control when it comes to potential problem temptations. However, young people still don't hear much about self-control in general. On the contrary, it's cool to throw away any antiquated sense of that, to "treat yourself", "just do it", "par-tay", and don't even think about what any "foods", drugs or alcoholic toxins can do to your body. As a matter of fact some restaurants use an opposing message to self control by their tantalizing "All You Can Eat" lure.
A message that can be out there more, is that we as individuals can control so much, like what we decide to eat and drink, and how fit we are, hence also helping to control the demand on health care, and the demands on the authorities who have to patrol all the George Streets, wherever they are. What happens on George Street and lots of roads and streets are preventable in the long run, but the roots of the problems and behaviours need to be studied, and addressed by every segment of our culture.
There have been a couple of good Telegram articles recently about the good and the bad of St. John's famous/infamous George Street. A few hard-hitting messages came through - George St. has an image problem, there is an alarming hard drug problem, and our culture of alcohol glorification show no signs of waning. Police authorities surely have their hands full dealing with weekend brawls, vandalism, noise and unruliness. Councillor Tom Hann saw it first-hand as he took a drive with the RNC 3 am Sat. night. The police say it would be helpful to install closed-circuit television cameras on George St.
Maybe it will deter some potential public brawls on that particular street, but it won't stop people from acting out of control either with drugs, booze, or their inner selves. Our whole culture, whether it's a city, town, or outport, has found the lure of alcohol, well, intoxicating, and from young ages on up, many still glorify it. For better or worse, our realities are influenced by the activities, personalities around us, attitudes, and habits that are powerful in our environments. This particular witness to a culture of over-drinking has noticed that there does not appear to be much emphasis, in general, on self-control. At least it wasn't a topic in my school curriculum, or there were few, if any, public messages about it. As we see, it affects adult behaviour and society in negative ways.
We are all human, and it is not always easy to take control of some habit that we have become accustomed to. However, as we also know, good habits can begin to replace unhealthy ones, and we can control our lives, rather than have negative habits control us. It goes for drugs, alcohol, food, and personal behaviours.
Naturally, parents and guardians have a huge role to play in educating their kids, and imparting messages of self control when it comes to potential problem temptations. However, young people still don't hear much about self-control in general. On the contrary, it's cool to throw away any antiquated sense of that, to "treat yourself", "just do it", "par-tay", and don't even think about what any "foods", drugs or alcoholic toxins can do to your body. As a matter of fact some restaurants use an opposing message to self control by their tantalizing "All You Can Eat" lure.
A message that can be out there more, is that we as individuals can control so much, like what we decide to eat and drink, and how fit we are, hence also helping to control the demand on health care, and the demands on the authorities who have to patrol all the George Streets, wherever they are. What happens on George Street and lots of roads and streets are preventable in the long run, but the roots of the problems and behaviours need to be studied, and addressed by every segment of our culture.
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