Trying to Stay Well - A Christian Virtue

Forward

Many people are having trouble staying fully well these days. The wider world is the root of much of our trouble. So much in our environment is toxic. We experience anxiety about our security and stress in our economic lives. There is deprivation in our segregated society, and uncertainty in our racial, social and political culture.

Our response to these unhealthful conditions should be threefold. We should address the social structures and dynamics that nurture these conditions. We should continue to address the failings in our health care and health care insurance systems. In addition, we should take personal responsibility for our own and others' health.

Persons are often limited in what they can do for themselves. We can each take steps to promote our own emotional and physical health despite threats from the physical and cultural environments and the need for health care reform. We can also avoid causing injury to others and can show concern for their well- being.

Christian Perspectives on Life and Health

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This opening verse of the Bible reminds that all life is a precious gift from God the Creator. This gift carries a responsibility to care for all that God has made. Gratitude, then, calls us to preserve and nurture what God has created, including our own health and wellness. Taking responsibility for our health is a basic way of thanking God for our life.

Jesus, the Lord of life, helps us understand the place of health in our lives: "And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them" (Mt 24:23-24). Jesus' healings show that restoring people to health is part of his mission to bring salvation to all. Jesus reveals himself as the physician of body and soul.

The highest purpose of health is to help each person fulfill his or her God-given task. Therefore, Christians have the highest incentives for trying to stay healthy. One incentive is the desire to be free. Staying well contributes to freedom -- from the obvious physical restraints, but also from the mental preoccupations that come with illness. Another incentive is gratitude. As we have seen, life itself, health, the ability to learn and serve the common good are precious gifts from God. A deep sense of gratitude, therefore, calls Christians to take care of their health as a sign of reverence to God. A third incentive is a desire to serve God and others, especially family and those whom God places close to us in our daily lives.

In short, trying to stay well is a way of loving one- self, loving one's neighbor and even of loving one's community. In other words, it is a virtue.

Trying to stay well is a virtue, but physical health is not the highest good. Seeking health by adopting extreme diets and exercise programs is unreasonable. Inordinate preoccupation with health is an obstacle to acquiring other Christian virtues and serving the common good. Living primarily to maintain a healthy body is a form of self-absorption. If we remain dedicated to our God-given tasks in life, we will take sufficient care of our health.

It is inevitable that sick and injured people will con- tinue to live with some suffering no matter what health care providers do for them, or what they do for themselves. There are times when recovery is out of reach. Suffering is part of the human condition. Job recognized this in Old Testament times. Christians throughout the centuries have found meaning and comfort in their own suffering by recalling the suffering of Jesus Christ.

Health and sickness are often no accident. People make choices that increase their chances of falling ill, having an accident, staying healthy or recovering their health. Medical experts agree that poor eating habits, lack of sufficient exercise, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and irresponsible sexual behavior cause a variety of heath problems. Dr. Leon Kass, a prof- essor at the University of Chicago, estimates that more than half of people's medical problems could be avoided by simple choices or changing their lifestyle.

We acknowledge that life situations and environment can be detrimental to good health. Still, individuals can do things to promote their own and others' health. The University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health discovered seven practices or "rules" for good health. They are:

1. Don't smoke cigarettes.
2. Get seven hours of sleep each night.
3. Eat breakfast.
4. Keep your weight down.
5. Drink moderately or not at all.
6. Exercise daily.
7. Don't eat between meals.

Losing weight will usually require cutting down on fats and sugars in your diet, combined with regular exercise. Exercise can also help reduce high blood pressure. Studies reveal that people who follow all seven rules are healthier and live longer than those who follow six, six more than five, and so on, in perfect order.

Other habits will promote and maintain health. These include avoiding stress and sexual promiscuity and being careful to avoid injury at work or play.

Families, churches and schools are the institutions that will most effectively persuade people to take care of their health. Civic associations, government agencies and political leadership can also promote more healthful ways of living by providing information and passing legislation.

The key question, then, is whether families, churches and schools can be more effective in persuading Americans to take care of their health. These institutions are already having a hard time carrying out their essential duties. The breakdown of the family, the declining influence of many churches, and the multiple social and moral problems overwhelming our public schools pose serious obstacles to any kind of extensive education in virtue, including taking reason- able steps to preserve health.

In light of this, we recommit ourselves to support families, churches and schools in promoting the virtue of staying well.

A discussion of staying well leads to rethinking healing and medical ethics. Many physicians have been more concerned with curing disease than with teaching people how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The role of educator can be difficult for physicians. They are extremely busy fighting disease with little time and often little motivation to be patient teachers. However, family physicians must play a crucial role in educating their adult patients to take better care of themselves if the effort to stay well is to become more widespread and lasting.

Doctors must be careful to avoid two extremes in educating their patients: paternalism and an exclusive focus on patient autonomy. Sensible patients trust the authoritative -- not authoritarian -- guidance offered by knowledgeable physicians. In other words, the physician shouldn't dictate to patients as though they were children, but persuade them to look after their health effectively.

The virtue of caring for the sick and injured is also related to health and wellness. The sick and injured must not be regarded as second-class citizens or as people undeserving of care, whatever the cause of their illness or injury. Despite our best efforts to stay well, nearly all of us will eventually fall sick -- if only for a short time. Some will sustain injuries at work, on the road, or at leisure. Others will acquire diseases from the environment.

Of course, there will always be people who seriously neglect their health. Nevertheless, neither health care givers nor ordinary citizens should make distinctions between the "virtuous" sick and those personally responsible for their ill health. This may seem too obvious to mention, but lately there is talk of offering less than adequate health care to people who don't seem to take care of themselves. As the Bible says, "God sends the rain upon the just and the unjust." Christ loved all people while they were still sinners. His love inspires people to change their sinful ways out of gratitude. Likewise, Christians are to love one another, allowing God to make them instruments of grace in the lives of others. Caring for the sick is an appealing invitation for us to love by looking after others and making every effort to recover and maintain their health.

The underlying theme of this statement is the rediscovery of personal resources and responsibility in caring for our own well-being and its cultivation as a Christian virtue. Lest we forget the other influences on our lives, we need to recall what was said in the Foreward. We believe that cultural and social conditions can deeply affect our well-being and restrict our power to care for ourselves.

We believe, therefore, that attention to wisdom and justice in public policy is equally important in our search to improve personal and public health. Both the personal and moral, and the social and political focuses are essential and complementary in our search for sounder health. Both are part of our deeper search for Christian virtue in our earthly lives.

This statement is offered by the Pennsylvania Conference on Interchurch Cooperation, comprised of Anglican, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant church bodies.

We invite your comments:
PCIC
P. O. Box 2835
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2835