don's report archive

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

A Wellness Exercise In Thinking Outside The Box
Friday May 9, 2008

John McCain has offered a tax credit as the basis for reforming the so-called health care system in America. A tax credit! Anyone with pre-existing conditions, unfortunately, would have a very difficult task trying to find a private, profit-driven insurance company willing to sell to a customer likely to need expensive medical care. Responding to such criticism (see Susan Estrich, McCain's Feeble Health Plan," St. Petersburg Times, May 3, 2008, p.12A), the candidate replied that he would "work with the states to establish a guaranteed access plan." Sure - presidents have plenty of time to negotiate with 50 different states on one issue. McCain's plan is basically to leave worse enough alone.

The best bet for Americans if McCain is elected is not to need medical care. Of course, even those with perfect lifestyles, the paragons of wellness virtue, like me, for example, occasionally need medical care. So, in addition to making wise lifestyle choices (e.g., not doing dumb, high risk things like smoking while becoming and remaining very fit and so on), it would be wise to turn 65 so you can enjoy Medicare! Well, you could also become poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, if you live in a state generous to its disadvantaged citizens. There are not too many of those states around anymore. A better option might be to get yourself elected to Congress -- our Federal politicians have the best plans tax monies can buy. Or, join the military, but that has certain drawbacks of a health nature, as well.

No, if you or a loved one plan to get sick during a McCain Administration and you are not employed by an organization that provides a comprehensive health plan, you are in deep doo doo. You are just going to have to wait four more years and hope that a Democrat gets elected, and even then your chances are iffy. Your only hope is to die or stay healthy. I recommend the latter.

No guarantees about how to do that, as I just mentioned, but it is the best option if you are not very very rich, if McCain gets the big job. To boost your chances, choose wellness, but how many can do that? It's the sensible choice, but if you are like most people, that's not going to happen. Most people are either unwilling or unable to sustain wellness lifestyles. That's why the reality is icantdoit, for most. What will it take to bring people to their senses?

That's what I've been pondering lately. What sudden event or communication might spur people all over the globe to realize that it is really and truly self-ruinous to allow their bodies to grow flabby from inactivity? What might convince everyone not to permit vessels and arteries to clog and obstruct due to dietary indiscretions, thus inhibiting blood flow to sex organs and lesser parts of the body, like the heart? In short, what would suddenly and unexpectedly jolt Earth's six billion inhabitants to an instant conversion to wellness?

In fact, I don't think that there is or ever will be anything that could spark such a cataclysmic collective wellness insight to all humanoids in one fell swoop! If there were such an event of such rapturous and epic circumstance, what might it be?

I think it would have to be some kind of message from a mirror or parallel universe just like our own! That's right - a great transformation of lifestyles toward wellness might require an unmistakable message from a planet where every extraterrestrial or ET is a savant, hierophant or lifestyle artist at REAL wellness for optimal quality of life. They would be aliens whom we could adopt as role models, mentors and coaches!

Don't despair - today's science fiction is sometimes the stuff of tomorrow's newspaper headlines! Have you heard of SETI - the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the form of electromagnetic signals from other civilizations in the universe? SETI was inaugurated by NASA in the early 70's; for the past decade or two, it has been financed by private donors.

Just thinking about the possibilities is rather mind-expanding. Within range of our telescopes, there are 100 billion GALAXIES! Do you have any idea how many planets this many galaxies could harbor? Consider that each galaxy is home to 100 billion STARS! This means that if only ONE in a billion planets harbors life, there would be 10,000 billion planets with some kind of critters practicing lifestyles along the worseness/wellness continuum! Surely one of them is at the far right side of the wellness continuum, and willing to tell us about it. Think SETI - we're listening!

Of course, there will be complications. Even if a wellness-oriented planet, which we'll name SeekWellness10+ exists out there and is part of a solar system of a star nearest Earth's sun, our wellness-oriented friends are unfortunately a not-so-neighborly distance away. Therefore, their wake-up call wellness signal will take four years to get here, even though it will be traveling at the speed of light, or a blazing 186,000 miles per second.

If, however, SeekWellness10+ is a bit farther out than that, a signal from them could take many thousands or millions of years! Worse, a signal exchange is even less promising. As far as a signal EXCHANGE is concerned, well, you can forget that. Our potential saviors may well live for thousands or millions of years, but we don't last so long. An exchange of wellness insights at such distances is less promising than real health system reform under McCain.

Still, let's speculate. What might be the nature of a message from SeekWellness10+? There are many forms it could take -- I'll mention a few. How about, "Hey, lowlifes, repent! Immediately! Do it now!" No, this would be out of character for a wellness-oriented alien on SeekWellness10+. Furthermore, a message like that might be misinterpreted by ecclesiastically predisposed ET's here on Earth. (Remember, to them, WE'RE the ET's.) How about, "Read and adhere to every word in Don's Reports to the World?" Or, "Make Donald B. Ardell your czar?" Or, "Wellness is fun, romantic and hip, sexy and free?"

Since some of the signals from radio programs of the '30s and '40s are just now reaching the nearer stars, maybe they will demand better programs. Yikes, wait till they hear some of the pronouncements from the current administration (e.g., "Mission Accomplished"). I can't imagine what their wellness message would be IF we could live long enough to hear it, which we can't, but I think it would be persuasive.

Maybe we should run an ad in some intergalactic personal columns: "Lonely, technically-proficient species seeks same. Object: Communication."

The downside of SETI is that we might betray our presence to a powerful, potentially hostile civilization that would choose to enslave us, or give us their diseases or, worse yet, their religions or UNHEALTHY lifestyles? Military history does not suggest that the technologically inferior culture customarily benefits from contact with the technologically advanced. It's one thing to listen for the wellness message of salvation; however, do we really want to transmit a plea for assistance until we get the correct address for SeekWellness10+?

Well, maybe we should not pin our hopes on rescue from without but instead look within, both within ourselves as individuals and within our own planet, for saner, healthier and more fulfilling ways to enjoy our days while enhancing our well-being. A start would be to stop hoping, wishing or otherwise expecting that a new president is going to make us healthier with a sensible medical delivery program that complements our personal devotion to personal responsibility.

Be well, Earthlings. Let's help each other and vote wisely, as well. Maybe that's the best way to look on the bright side and be responsible. Cheers.

Note: This essay appeared in a slightly different version at this website on June 27, 2001. It was entitled, A Cosmic Wellness Message? Probably Not, But Of Some Interest Just the Same!

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of factual knowledge. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

Send e-mail to Don Ardell