Life Styles

Barbara Woods Collins

I hear a lot these days about "lifestyles". It seems that we each have one, variously described as "healthy", "active", "couch potato", or even "self-destructive". And of course there are many variously defined subsets.

I am old enough to remember when no one had a lifestyle (unless he happened to be rich and famous). Or, if we had one we weren't aware of it. Instead, we merely had "lives".

I can recall being defined by the quality of my character. Even as I heard myself being described as "chubby", or "plain", I always listened for the "good personality" qualification that always seemed to follow. I was described as a "good person"--even a "terrific" one--more often than I was reminded of my laziness or even my lack of concern for my physical self. I remember when I felt proud because of the "inner beauty" that my friends spoke about.

During the years of my youth, it seemed that the body was considered less a "temple" and more a vehicle for transportation of the real self. My fellow travelers and I lived our lives this way until something broke, at which time we went to the doctor to get fixed. We were much more concerned about the health of our souls. This is the way things were done.

Doctors practiced medicine differently, back then. They depended on the fact that we would eventually break something or wear out a major organ, and this provided them an ample income, sent their offspring to the best schools, and kept their garages full of the latest automobiles.

It is interesting to me that the rapid rise in the concept of "improved lifestyles" corresponded historically with the advent of "managed care" in the medical world. This paradigm changed the financial incentives from fixing medical problems to preventing them. Doctors are paid by our health insurance provider to care for us, but may be financially rewarded if they keep us "out of the system" of high-cost specialists and procedures. Consequently, it behooves them to encourage us to take very good care of ourselves so as not to be too great a burden on the "system"--a system that financially effects all of us. It is not so much that we are helping ourselves, but are being good citizens.

There is now a plethora of research being reported which indicates that we humans actually cause most of our maladies. These research reports will likely include a financial cost to the "system" by those who cause themselves to be in less than perfect health. This research goes on to quantify the cost of caring for obese people, smokers, even "end of life care", leaving the reader to wonder why we bother to prolong the lives of all these old and sick people. After all, it was their lifestyle choices that brought them to this point.

I recently heard from a member of the X-Generation that there is much discussion amongst his peers about their financial liability for the generation that abused their bodies and now is a heavy load on the "system". I listened, knowing that the distance between our values was too great to foster a reasonable discussion. I listened as he spoke of his losses in the stock market, resulting in his having to postpone his planned retirement at age 40! Now he and even his younger "Gens" are oppressed by a projected steep increase in the senior population, who will be milking the Medicare System dollars.

I listened, and when I was alone I cried. I grieved for the parents and grandparents who have so very much to offer these young people, but who are considered a "financial burden". I grieved for the shift in values that does not allow for beauty and quality in an obese person, or even a crusty old uncle who still puffs Marlboros and who doesn't know the difference between an ab and a pec.

Don't get me wrong. I am certainly in favor of health lifestyles. I want everyone to eat lots of salmon and garlic, shun animal fat and refined sugar, and work out daily. However, I know that this is not going to happen. People also have lives--lives that may or may not lead them down the "correct" lifestyle path. And I refuse to allow a lifestyle to define an individual absolutely. I value people if they are compassionate, caring, feeling individuals, concerned about human rights and responsibilities, loving of their fellow travelers regardless of the mode of their transportation. Call me old fashioned, but I don't see temples; I see automobiles. And I know some beautiful travelers who move around in rusty old Model-T Fords.

©copyright 2003 Barbara Woods Collins