High Risk Behavior
Sitting here in front of this computer and wishing that the remaining 200 words I need to complete this novel would magically appear, and I'd have a blockbuster best seller. Anybody else understand the true meaning of procrastination? Tomorrow I'll write up a storm, but today, I just want to watch the French Open tennis matches. Oh yes, I'd also like to lose a few pounds (maybe six or seven)without giving up my favorite foods. And oh, yes, one of these days soon, I'm going to the gym. Gwynne
Last weekend, I attended the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans and signed books at the authors pavilion. Thanks to continuously inclement weather, the temperature was more "tame" than I had expected, and I was grateful. The local papers and television stations estimated that 250,000 people, mainly African Americans, attended the festival. While observing these prosperous and joyful Americans, it occurred to me that what we need is a movement not unlike the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Without wanting to start a controversy-and praying that I don't- I submit that we need a nation-wide health campaign to warn African Americans of the relationships between diet and weight, and strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease and heart disease. As one whose work has for years involved the study of the epidemiology of morbidity and mortality, I have to say that I am alarmed about our health prospects.
What does this have to do with the festival? That is where I saw thousands of African Americans strolling leisurely along the streets, most I would suggest below the age of forty-five, and nearly three-quarters of them candidates for the ailments listed above. I love cornbread and barbecued spareribs as well as the next person, but knowing my mother's family history, I ration myself, and if I gain five pounds, I get rid of it. So let us do what we can to guide young black Americans toward the path of good health. We are not the only ones who need this change-America needs it, but we are the ones about whom I am concerned.
Let me know your reaction. Is there anything you and I can do?
Gwynne