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January/February 2002 Editor's Viewpoint
Let’s Go On Strike!

Miriam Knight

Americans spend about one of every eight dollars on health care. That came to $1.1 trillion dollars in 1998, or $4,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. Health spending is projected to double again to $2.1 trillion by 2007. Clearly Healthcare is a blue chip industry, but even blue chip industries have taken a beating lately; so, given the state of our economy, the flu season is coming just in time. In fact, the growing unease about anthrax could be a shot in the arm for the drug companies.

I must say that the media are doing their patriotic best to support the pharmaceutical industry and keep up anxiety over health issues, whether by the endless speculation on bioterrorism or in silkily worded ads for the latest drugs. (I wonder if they get former tobacco auctioneers to do the voice-overs for drug side effects.)

To add to the anxiety of Portlanders, the nurses of one of our major medical centers have gone on strike! Well, I think we should support this strike because the nurses are living on crumbs at the bottom of the food chain that starts with the drug barons. I therefore propose that ConneXion readers support the nurses by boycotting the hospitals and going on strike too– let’s refuse to get sick! We can still support the economy by reinvesting elsewhere what we would have spent on drugs and insurance.

Now there may have to be some personal sacrifices on our part, like giving up coffee, cigarettes & booze, eating fruits and veggies, drinking lots of water and getting exercise; but remember that the nurses are sacrificing their wages, so it’s the least we can do.

Oh all right, maybe it is more complicated than that; you know, things like liking ourselves, bringing our lives into balance, having fun, loving others…but we can do it. And if we need a bit of help, there are lots people ready to lend a hand – just look through the pages of New ConneXion!

You know the word health and healing come from the Germanic root for whole. You can’t get well by treating a part of the body as if it existed independently of the whole of you, including your emotions and spirit. Interestingly, the word for health in Hebrew comes from the same root as “to create.” Let us choose to “create” health in ourselves, just as we have created many of our illnesses, through choices we have made, consciously or subconsciously, along the way. Come on, we owe it to those nurses…and maybe to ourselves too.

If you want to explore different avenues to positive wellness, come to the New ConneXion Healing Forum on Jan. 12^th. Anyone who comes to that Forum and says they are supporting the strike against sickness will get $5 off the ticket price.