My Day: An American Nightmare
Are you prepared to bury your child? Your niece or nephew or a grandchild? Or attend the funeral of a teen who was on dialysis? Are we burying our children too soon? Are heart attacks among 30 and 40 year olds normal? What consequences will children/young adults face as they gain more and more weight? Obesity and poor eating habits are a living nightmare.
My day, any day of the week, can take several turns with detours attached. Such was the occasion recently. It started with an innocent phone call from an associate producer about a video matter. In the course of the conversation which was in the middle of the morning, we were interrupted by a phone call from her child. The child was having stomach pains and needed to come home. The child was on medication, diabetes in this case and there were obvious side effects from the medication. Armed with this information, some follow up, and meddling “in their business”, the stubborn question paramount in my mind was what testing is done on children for the meds they are taking. The answer is a short one. They are not ‘well-tested’ in children. The adult drugs these kids take to battle their conditions are numerous, serious from muscle weakness to fatique – symptoms commonly found in older Americans. This nightmare combined with the naked truth is that for the first time ever, a generation of children may have a shorter life expectancy at birth than their parents. These superannuated kids have premature aging, thick throats that restrict airways, dark velvety patches on the neck than can be a sign of health problems, cholesterol buildup causing dense artery walls restricting blood flow. Any airway or blood restrictions in the body automatically hinders the brain from properly functioning.
Every day we hear or read about corruption being an epidemic, an outburst of measles as an epidemic, growing problem of pot-ishot, global warning as the number one concern in America today, an epidemic of identify theft, on and on and on. I personally think, as I have mentioned in this article before, that poor health is the number one problem in America today. And to combat poor health, we have ‘quick fixes’ and prescriptions to fill. It is not normal for children to take medication, to have fatty livers, suffer heart failure, to mature so early that puberty occurs around age eleven.
In the midst of a booming economy, a runaway technologically advanced world, the only way to combat poor health is to apply some good old fashioned common sense without it being ‘breaking news’ or a reality show. Be a responsible adult and change… your eating habits so you and the young around you can live.
Ester Davis can be reached at Esterday.com or 214.376.9000
