Life in a Vacuum

I think sometimes we wish our lives took place in a vacuum.  Where our decisions and desires affected only ourselves and didn't have any impact on anyone else.  Sometimes that wish turns into a delusion, and we let ourselves think  that this could actually be the case.  Well maybe if you are a hermit, tucked away in a mountain somewhere.  But even the hermit might have a lonely mother, wishing her son would come home.

I don't think we really understand the ripple effects of our actions. We like to talk about the ripple effects of the good things we do ('5 people you meet in heaven' style), while carefully ignoring the ripple effects of the bad ('5 people who won't be in heaven because of you'?). But every choice we make, even about our own bodies, impacts so much more than just ourselves.

Take something basic like your health.  On the surface of things how you eat, if you exercise, if you smoke or drink, impact you in the first person.  It could be argued that it's your body and if you don't take care of it, that's on you alone.  But the impact that one thing makes on the people around you and even society at large is actually quite stunning.  The impact on a spouse that suddenly becomes a caregiver, the financial and emotional stress on family members is very real.  Healthcare workers injure themselves more often because they are working with progressively overweight patient populations.  The medical expenses incured on a national level are depleting the resources of medicare and medicaid largely due to modifiable risk factors that are never modified. I.E. diseases you would not get if you took care of yourself!

Health is just an example. The same can be said of just about every choice we make.  How we treat our spouse, how we spend our money, how we treat the earth, our general morality.

We are too individualistic.  Everything is about us. It's our life, our body, our time, our choices.  But we are not alone and what we do or don't do doesn't just effect us, no matter how personal it is. We are little cells in a great big body.  If the hand has an infection that goes unchecked, the whole body can get toxic.  We can't keep making decisions as though we live in a vacuum.  If only we could sit and think and seriously consider how what we do will impact the people around us.  I think we'd be at least somewhat empowered to make better choices.