Do people have control over their health?

I believe that it is impossible to have complete control of one’s health. There are just too many outstanding circumstances; circumstances that people have no say in, for someone to have complete control of their health. Yes a person can run 5 miles a day, eat an exquisite diet, and take vitamins every morning but the truth of the matter is they still do not have control of what their health might be. Sara Robinson describes this well when she says, “The fact is that bad genes, bad luck, and the ravages of age eventually take their toll on all of us—even the most careful of us.” What if that same person, the one who runs 5 miles a day, was born with type II diabetes or maybe a form of leukemia? Before they even get the chance to have a say in their life about how healthy they may want to be, they have health problems. With these health problems comes expensive health bills, bills that many cannot afford.

The life expectancy has risen steadily over the last centuries. Advances in technology have happened to help people live longer. Some of these advances I have experienced first-hand. This includes the aqueducts and even the Roman baths. Being able to have drinkable water and also just being able to bathe oneself went a long way in preventing diseases at that time. However, even with these precautions, people still had no real control over their health. Nowadays, our health care is state of the art. But even with these advances, not everyone uses them. The main cause of this is the price. As Gaudium states, “Many people, especially in economically advanced areas, seem, as it were, to be ruled by economics, so that almost their entire personal and social life is permeated with a certain economic way of thinking.” In other words, if they cannot afford the health care, they will not get it. Something should be done to stop this, as they cannot better control their own health without it.

Living a healthy lifestyle goes a long way, but there is still a big opportunity for something to happen, perhaps a crisis of some sort. Maybe it’s a natural disaster, maybe its war, or maybe its something as simple as your family members having a condition that passes down to you. These are all things that cannot be prevented. Things can be done to prepare sure, but there is no foolproof way of going through life 100 percent risk free.

Another contributor to one’s health is the profession in which they work. A simple desk job might not be to strenuous on the health, expect maybe lack of exercise, but a job that requires physical labor increases the chances of health problems. These professions are that of mechanics, the armed forces, emergency responders, and construction. The mining profession is especially a health risk. I have experienced this first hand through my father getting a form of leukemia from when he used to work in the pits as a teenager. Back then, nobody really paid any attention to health standards or what chemicals workers were being exposed to.

In conclusion, I believe that no one has complete control over their health. No matter what preventive measures taken, there is still no guaranteed way to never get sick or to never get injured in some way. Another quote from Robinson that I think fits is, “Since none of us can control fate, the least we can do is be there for each other as our numbers come up.” Because we cannot control our fate, why not help each other by providing universal health care to help protect people from the unexpected and unpredictable things that life can throw at them?