I was cruising the internet the other day (not a novel experience) when I came across what appeared to be an alarming announcement.  The statement was that it is expected that by the time this covid 19 has run its course, some 9 million people will have died from this bug worldwide.  This sounds like a lot of people!  It is a lot of people.  But the first thing my brain did was ask “how many people normally die each year?”  This doesn't diminish the loss of life from covid 19 but instead helps me appreciate all the other causes of death that we pretty much ignore in our day-to-day lives.

The official statistic is that around 56 million people died last year worldwide.  Closer to home that number is given as 3.1 million deaths last year in the US.  2019 had about the lowest death rate we have ever seen with only 7.54 deaths per thousand.  In comparison, the death rate back in 1950 was 20 per thousand.  It has been coming down fairly steadily ever since then.  2020, however, showed an increased death rate of 12% according to the CDC, of which they feel at least 2/3 of this was due to covid 19.  That comes up to about an extra 315,000 to 340,000 total deaths and somewhere around 220,000 being caused by covid 19.  More than half of that increase was in the over 75 age group.  Interestingly the death rate in the younger folks, under 35, actually decreased in 2020.  This is most likely because the most common cause of death in this age group is accidents, and they're just not as many accidents in the living room as there are out on the streets.  

I feel that we as a people have become blind to the death all around us every day.  We just ignore it most of the time and vastly distort it other times.  It creates a very skewed perception of reality.  For instance, back in 2017, there were 95 deaths in the US due to terrorism, yet over 35% of news media coverage was spent on this subject.  In that same year, there were over 600,000 deaths due to heart disease yet only 2% of media coverage was dedicated to this subject.  Terrorism was over-represented in the media by 400,000% relative to its impact on our lives.  The exact same thing is happening now with covid 19.  How different would our lives be if the government took the same level of interest in heart disease as it has in covid 19?  For instance, it is well known that smoking contributes to heart disease.  Do you think cigarettes would be available to buy if they found out that smoking gave you covid?  How about fast food and junk food?  It is overwhelmingly proved that fast food, junk food, excess sugar, sodas, deep-frying, and Christmas cookies all lead to metabolic syndrome and therefore heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, stroke, and so on.  In fact, most of the causes of death in this country are directly tied to these foods combined with lazy lifestyles.  Is the government jumping in with both feet and locking down 7-11's, KFCs, Sees candy shops, McDonald's, and all the rest of the sources of these poisonous foods?  How about the government dictates on how much exercise you must have each day or be fined some sort of public health fine?  Can you see what I am saying here?  We are all ignoring the elephants in the room and freaking out about the mice in the corner.  Do we want mice in the corner – of course not?  But where are our priorities?  What is really important?

Let's take another look at our fears.  What would you say is the most dangerous animal - the biggest cause of human death, besides humans killing each other?  Where would you place sharks on that list?  How about bees?  Kissing bugs?  Snails?  Dogs?  Mosquitoes?  How about elephants?  I know that if I look at the movies that have been made, obviously sharks have to be at the top of that list, followed by killer bees, maybe the occasional mad dog, and of course lions, tigers, and bears.  Okay, time for reality to step in instead of Hollywood.  The number one killer of people is mosquitoes.  They carry over eight deadly diseases and killed 780,000 people in 2017.  Other people came in at number two with humans killing 546,000 other people in 2017.  Number three on the list was snakes.  Oh yeah, how could I forget snakes – 75,000 dead from a snake bite.  What was number four – sand fleas.  What?  Yup, sand fleas killed 14,000 people in 2017 by carrying the disease Leishmaniasis.  Puppy dogs take the number five spot having killed 13,000 people.  And number six was the freshwater snail – 10,000 people dead.  Down towards the bottom of the list we have tigers killing 50 people and my most dreaded – sharks – only killed 4 people.

https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death

The number of people that die from accidents each year is close to the number that has been reported to have died from covid 19 last year.  A good portion of those accident deaths was caused by automobiles.  Why are we allowed to drive cars when they cause so many deaths?  So many innocent young lives are lost in auto accidents while the majority of lives lost to covid are folks that are already at the average age of death in this country.  Do you see how warped our perspective has become?  We ignore the biggest causes of the loss of life all around us and fixate on minor causes.  It would make sense if we could magically focus on one problem at a time and solve it; take it away for all time.  But history has shown this is ridiculous.  Look at our many years of our “War on Cancer” and our “War on Drugs."  How about our “War on Poverty?"  Our national attempts to focus and solve problems has been an utter failure.  Political solutions don't work!  Politics can not solve issues that are health and lifestyle problems.  These are very individual solutions that are needed – the opposite of how big systems operate. 

Underneath all of this I believe is a fundamental terror we humans have of not having control.  If we can cough up with a belief that we can get control, we will expend insane amounts of energy trying to get it.  When we finally realize that we can not have control, we go into denial and pretend the problem does not exist.  We never let go of our attachment to control.  We never achieve any lasting control over anything because we believe the issue lies in the circumstances outside of us.  We think it is those outside things that need to be controlled.  But we can never have control of outside reality.  We can't control the rise of the sun, the timing of the seasons, or the thoughts and feelings of other people.  But we don't need to control the outside.  What we need to control is our own fear.  That is actually what we are really after.  At the end of the day, what really matters to us is how we feel.  We don't want to feel bad.

Feeling well is an inside job.  It is not about controlling the circumstances around you.  It is about how you respond to those circumstances that define how you feel inside.  Understand, this is not woo-woo stuff I am talking about.  Our feelings about ourselves are the same thing as our immune system.  Other than being hit by a meteor or eaten by a shark, most of what kills us are imbalances in our immune system.  If it is strong it fights off disease.  If it is balanced we don't get chronic diseases.  It is chronic inflammation that kills us, and that means dysregulation of the immune system.  That is what inflammation is.

I take the covid 19 threat like I take any threat.  I ask “What can I do to strengthen myself and balance myself to reduce this risk?”  Not getting stressed is step number one, as stress whacks out the immune system.  Eating a diet that pumps up the immune system, getting enough sleep, exercising, and connecting with friends are primary in keeping the body healthy.  Living a life of personal responsibility keeps me attentive to making the choices that favor my health, in spite of the unpleasant consequences of those choices - like no classic Christmas cookies.  I adapt.

Heart disease is real, cancer is real, covid is real, - so what.  Neither denial nor thoughtless behaviors will help me with that reality.  Thoughtful self-supporting behaviors are what will help.  We can take care of ourselves far better than any government can because we can tailor our responses to fit our unique needs.  We know what we need better than someone else does.  We tend to forget that truth and give our health power over to supposed experts.  I am an expert and I can assure you that all any expert ever has is just an opinion, not the truth.  Truth is what you discover by trial and error within your own life, and it applies uniquely to you and no one else.

Take care,

David


There are only 15 copies left of the Good Job Journal at the office.  These journals counter the constant stream of negative criticism we get from others and ourselves.  Just a minute each day spent jotting down  what you did well during the day helps you to see yourself in a whole new light.  We are better than we give ourselves credit for, but we don't see it because we have been taught to ignore the good and focus on the bad.  Unfortunately this robs us of the confidence to tackle life with zest and enthusiasm.  Get your self transformation tool now for only $10.

We have received a third batch of copies of my book The Balanced Life.    They are available in the office for $17.99, and they are also available on Amazon.com







Ellen update:    

No Ellen update this week as I was down with an eye injury and could not see my computer.  Fortunately the main article was done before the injury happened.

D