Level Of Community Health

The Basic Issue

Unless there is a spiritual base to life, there is no health. It may look like life but it's death really, in fast or slow motion. That is the core of the Judeo Christian perspective.

Of course, nobody knows that for sure. It's a guess. Either it is correct or it is not, and nobody knows. That's why all the great religions on earth are called "faiths" not "knowledges": because everybody gets to call it like they see it.

In the ancient story of the Garden of Eden, God says to Adam, if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are going to die. Adam ate of it, and he died. It took him a while to fall over, but at that point he ceased to draw his life from God, and chose to go his own way, and it was a terminal decision. The illusion is in the time it takes to fall over. If death were instant, there would be no problem. But there is an interval...and that is where we fool ourselves into feeling that we have beaten the system.

They did a study a while back to find out which country had the most people living over 100 years old. It turned out to be Israel. (It seems to be different every time they do such a study.) When they investigated as to why they found that the only factor which was unique was their attitude towards life, health and death.

They have two toasts in that country, one "to life" and the other, "to the one hundred and twenty". The latter encapsulates their attitude towards life. In Gen.6:3, God looks down on mankind and notes that they are living so long that they are becoming very good at being rascals. In the story, God cuts them back to 120 years so that they will not have the place trashed before they get around to smartening up. In Israel, the target age is 120 years, not 80, so people live their lives accordingly. They may not live that long, but they certainly don't expect to be wrapping up life at 89, or going into retirement at 55!

So, how does one measure the health of a community? Are the people only apparently alive, or is there real life? Is the life just aimed at life here? Or is there a view to eternal life, life which has something of the eternal nature in it? There are many many questions embedded in this aspect of community development life, and they are some of he most profound in life.

At a community level, health is even more complex because it now has the social dimension in the mix as well, and that has many degrees of scale from a tight family grouping to global community. As our community goes global in this age, issues of "community health" are at the forefront. The Anthrax poisoning through the mail as an act of terrorism, and the sudden spread of mad cow disease and Ebola have brought that reality home in very clear terms.

One aspect which is helpful to remember while looking at the community health aspect is to remember that two situations which look similar can have different underlying causes, or combinations of causes. Physical illness can be a money problem, a nutritional problem, an emotional problem and so on. If we solve the wrong problem, it won't go away. We must address causes of ill health rather than symptoms, and to be proactive rather than reactive.

A final note concerns the high state of drug use in our society in North America. If we are to be involved in community development, we need to face the question, "why more development?" We already have the highest standard of living in the world, and higher than any one has ever had in all of earth's history. Yet, this continent consumes 95% of the world's tranquilizers, is a net importer of narcotics, is awash in booze, and has our kids eating tons of Ritalin to quiet them in school. If our society is so great why does it take such a huge amount of tranquilizer to live in it. What does this say about community health? Why would we want to develop more community, let alone export out processes to other cultures and countries. What comes to mind is the verse from scripture regarding the Children of Israel early in their history. It says of God in relation to them at one time , "He gave them the desires of their hearts , but he sent leanness to their souls" ( ).

Off-Line Resources

• Ferrazzi, Gabe. "Healthy Communities" . Rural Community Development Introductory Modules,(WebCT class notes). Brandon University, Fall, 2001.Module # 2-b .
  Gabe's notes on Community health pick up on the collapse of the Medical health system over the past few years, the World Health Organization' pressure for total health rather than response to disease, RDI's involvement in working with communities to identify their levels of health and identify useful markers of that state, and the effort of many to attack the problem of polluted and disrupted environment and its effect on the health of the community.

On-Line Resources