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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

A One Time Gift

Sunday February 25, 2001

My good friend and wellness pioneer, the late Robert F. Allen, wrote an imaginary tale in the early 80s to dramatize to children at a YMCA summer camp in upstate New York the importance of looking after their health in general and their physical condition in particular. His point was that we often fail to value what we are given. I thought it was a wonderful analogy, and thought you might enjoy it, too.

Bob asked the children to imagine a land where all teens were offered a car at high school graduation. Any car they like--BMW, Mercedes, a Rolls or what have you. But, naturally, there was a condition. (Bob wryly noted that life is often like that.)

He told them it would be the only car they can ever have! It could never be replaced, only repaired -- and the kids would have to pay for all upkeep and repairs. Would they be interested? Was this a deal they would take, Bob asked?

Nearly all the kids said they'd take the deal. Bob noted that, in his view, he thought that none of them would allow the fancy car they selected to go to ruination -- and all heartily agreed. They all agreed that they would care deeply about their precious machines. They would fine-tune and wash, shine, and maintain their vehicles to a point of mechanical artistry.

Bob had fun with the analogy. He said it would get out of hand. He imagined that there would be TV game shows, soap operas, and athletic contests that glorified car care. Every school would have courses on the subject and car care would be the hottest topic for commencement speakers! During parties and other social functions, kids would talk of little else. A new caring professions would come into being be led by professionals sensitive to auto counseling issues; student leaders would be the kids whose cars were functioning best.

A major industry, auto insurance, would be hard hit by this situation, since car-care fanatics would seldom take risks and have accidents. Even though damages were fully paid for, no one would derive much satisfaction from taking advantage of this dubious benefit. And on and on, Bob made the point about how this precious resource would be treated with great awe and respect.

Then he made his case. He asked if it were not a bit odd that kids and others in our culture would respond in this manner if a once-in-a-lifetime luxury car, an inanimate piece of machinery, were at stake, when another far more precious and wondrous, complex machine is provided on a one-time gift basis. He said the REAL machine is in fact often mistreated and undervalued, until it is too late for further repairs. The gift of life itself, Bob noted, comes in bodies distributed at birth. This is clearly a more valuable treasure than any automobile could ever be. Point made -- kids convinced.

Don't you think Bob had a nice analogy with this tale? He said that the design for the machine we have came from a 3.5 million year development process, with lots advances, adjustments, design modifications, and fine tuning. It is run by a computer far smarter than anything owned by the Pentagon, NASA, the CIA, the IRS or other organization with massive staffs of brilliant people with super computers.

It works great, Bob explained, for getting us around through all our years and is delightful to have in tiptop condition during sunrises and sunsets, for giving and receiving love, for laughing, climbing, hiking, and exploring in all forms. It is amazingly resilient, adaptable, and strong. If you think about it for a moment and reflect on what it can do and how difficult life can be when it is allowed to run down, to deteriorate and to wear out one or more decades before the warranty expires, you have to wonder why kids and former kids treat it so badly.

Next time you see a car that's banged up, that pollutes the environment, that assaults the senses, and that looks like it would not be allowed in a respectable junkyard, ask yourself this question: If your body were a car, would it look like it were better cared for than this clunker? How can you tell?

Bob said: Try this. Can your body do several pull-ups? Can it cover a mile in less than seven minutes? He asked a lot of other such good questions, and the kids had plenty to think about.

Be well.

Domain: physical
Subdomain: exercise and fitness

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