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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 Visitor's Perspective on Self-Responsibility

Monday March 22, 2004

As I have noted before, E-mail messages from readers are a major reward for the labors involved in producing these daily essays. The first thing I do each morning is to review the E-mail feedback from visitors. Even brickbats can be fun, though I will own up to a fondness for flowers. 

A regular (and favorite) correspondent is an old friend from my Orlando days named Bob Ludlow. Bob is a scholarly athlete, a former top cyclist who is also a photographer and writer, among other things. Bob was the first to comment on this weekend's essay entitled "What Do Haitians, the Palestinians and Afghanis Have In Common With American Lowlifes? Read This And Find Out!" My answer, in brief, was that they share what Thomas Friedman termed a "poverty of dignity" and a "deficit of human development." Bob assessed the essay as "a well-written, insightful piece" and said I was right on target because "the cultural contexts of people's lives determine their attitudes and choices." You might enjoy the rest of Bob's message as I did, so (with permission) I include it here:

So why, especially of late, does our society keep overlooking or denying the implications of the obvious fact that the attitudes and behaviors that define personal responsibility are mostly learned in a cultural context? Many reasons, no doubt, but a right-wing agenda tied to simplistic Christian fundamentalist ideology is certainly a prime suspect. We must, of course, hold individuals responsible for their antisocial actions in order to deter them, and others, from committing similar actions. But this is not the answer to the problem. We cannot expect neglected, abused, undereducated children lacking even basic employment skills to suddenly pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become responsible citizens when they reach age 16, or whatever, simply because we have enshrined a simple-minded cult of personal responsibility. The guiding sense of personal responsibility comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is the cultural context of children's lives.

Getting back to your topic, when we look at the U.S. and its epidemic of obesity, do we see a lot of individuals making unwise choices? Of course. Is this, as right-wing spokespersons have recently declared, the sum total of the problem--that each individual overweight person is making the wrong choices? Of course not--people make those "choices" for reasons that are imbedded in their cultures. And the solution is not "every person for him- or herself." And it sure as hell isn't the mindless ideological conformity the religious right-wing ideologues would impose. There has to be a concerted effort by all major institutions to address the underlying causes at all levels. I don't advocate any kind of elitist coercive program. What's needed is coordinated social action that respects cultural differences. What works in one community may not work in another community that requires a different approach. Therefore, we need to encourage and support local leadership.

Eons ago, when I was in graduate school, I wrote a paper about the crack cocaine crisis entitled "Opportunity for Enlightened Leadership," which sounds like an oxymoron these days. Predictably, the Reaganites wanted to throw more force at the problem with mandatory involuntary drug testing and other draconian measures. My view then as now was that although mandatory involuntary drug testing was an idea whose time had come and gone, the very fact that our society had been pushed to the point of considering such a humiliating measure was ominous and cause for grave concerns about the future of the campaign against drug abuse. There was, I said, an urgent need for rational, well-informed leadership to emerge to avoid a wasteful repetition of past mistakes. 

I went on to quote Dr. Taha Baasher, formerly a regional advisor with the World Health Organization: "Many countries have been striving long and hard to combat drug problems. Concerted efforts have now to be made with a view to avoiding the mistakes of the past and learning from successful experiences. Blunders often arise from the fact that preventive measures may be unduly focused on the control of drugs or on the person using the drugs to the neglect of the political undercurrents, the economic determinants, the social context and the general prevailing circumstances." (Sounds very much like what Thomas Friedman has been saying about the Middle East.) Dr. Baasher cited national anti-smoking campaigns as examples of how enlightened, sustained efforts can effectively counteract personal and cultural attitudes that lead to substance abuse. He called for concerted, "all-out efforts involving clear long-term policies in close harmony with all the social sectors concerned and with active community participation." Dr. Baasher made it clear that community action must be concerned with offering positive alternatives to drug-taking behavior and addiction: "One reason individuals get into trouble with substances is that they lack, or perceive that they lack, worthwhile alternatives."

Obviously, this kind of thinking can apply to a broad range of health and social problems in addition to drug abuse. But such an approach--call it coordinated community action--would take a style of leadership that will never emerge from the right-wing mentality with its cult of personal responsibility.

Well, there you go. If your name is Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and you want to offer a different take on this essay or any essay, I'd love to hear from you. If your name is other than that of a famous (or infamous, depending on your politics) right-wing Christian commentator, I'd be every bit as interested in reading about your impressions on self-responsibility and other wellness issues--and how best to transfer wellness insights toward wise public policy. My thanks to Bob Ludlow and all the others whose comments I could NOT reproduce on this topic for helping me think more critically about these and other matters.

All the best. Stay well and look on the bright side of life. 

About the author:  Bob Ludlow retired from 9-5 salaried work three years ago to devote full time to his passion for digital photography. His prints and note cards are carried by fine-art galleries, gift shops, and bookstores in Florida and North Carolina. In earlier occupational incarnations, he was a college psychology instructor, a diabetes educator at the University of Florida's College of Medicine, a fitness and health editor at a national magazine and a behavior therapist in two Florida public school systems. Just so you'll know he's not all brains and no brawn, in the early 70's he drove a beef delivery truck through the raging blizzards of Southwest Michigan to help finance his graduate studies

In his misspent youth, Ludlow was a rated chess master, winning the Florida championship and several other titles. After giving up chess in favor of distance running, he went on to win numerous age-group awards in the early 1980s, including a national championship for men over 40 (at the 15-kilometer distance). Serious injuries in 1984 curtailed his running, and he turned to bicycle road racing, where he also won a number of age-group awards in Florida and Alabama

>About his serial passions, Ludlow says, "I have always been happiest during periods of intense pursuit of excellence. Whether or not I've ever really achieved excellence depends on how you define the term, but that isn't the point, anyway. The point, as they say, is the journey, not the destination. In my case the journey is working hard to attain the high standards I set for myself, and the reward is seeing tangible progress." Some of Ludlow's photography can be viewed online at at his website.

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