I recently saw this statement on an advertisement and it has stuck in my craw ever since. Being an advertisement for a buisness the assumption then would be that if you receive the services of said buisness, you too can be well. Elitist bullshit at its best and here is why:
1. Not everyone has insurance, has access to, or can afford to go to a doctor, therapist, chiropractor, etc.
2. Not everyone has the time, babysitter, money, or transportation to get to said appointments so that they can be "well."
3. Not everyone has access to healthy foods and/or supplements.
4. Not everyone can afford healthy foods and/or supplements.
5. Not everyone can pay out of pocket for alternative therapies.
6. Not everyone has the emotional support to make the choice for wellness.
7. Not everyone has been exposed to or has had positive experiences with doctors, therapists, etc.
8. Many people are just focused on survival that "wellness" isn't quite on the top of the priority list.
And on and on the list would go. The idea of choice is irritating to say the least. It works on a small scale, like when I tell my 4 year old he can chose to listen to his mama or he can chose to take a break. This choice is pretty straight forward I think but this just doesn't translate into the larger picture of life where someone's whole history has substantial influence on their "choices." We all grow up in different circumstances and unique experiences that shape us--for better or worse--and what I am saying I guess is that saying something is a choice is such a simplistic way to think about the world and I find it very frustrating. What do you think?
I also get very frustrated with people who, in a number of arenas, think that it's all about completely free individual choice, unconstrained by class, upbringing and education, economics, or other circumstances. A friend in Chicago used to tutor math in the Robert Taylor housing project (decades before it was demolished) and said there were kids there who had never been to the museums downtown--at that time, less than a dollar El ride away. There were days when the museums were free, and they still didn't go. It wasn't simply the dollar. It was that it seemed out of the universe of possibility for those kids. They didn't know people who went to museums; they didn't conceive of the museums being for them.
ReplyDeleteThe story always amazed me, but then one day I was telling a French friend that I'd always wanted to go to Paris. She said, "Well, why not? There are planes going there every day." But the idea of going to Paris is or was not in my own universe of possibilities, either before or after I had the money. I grew up without knowing anyone who went to Europe without being in the military. I was in college before I personally knew anyone who had gone as a tourist. If *I* feel limited, how much more must that be the case for a kid in the projects who may be literally struggling to survive? For him, that museum is a lot further away than Paris is for me.
People have to be open to imagining others' experiences and not assume that they themselves would be able to transcend all the obstacles that have never been in their way. To say "wellness is a choice" is not very far from saying that if you're unwell, it's your fault. Maybe some people need to believe that in order to feel in control of their lives, but it would take one serious illness or job loss to destroy that sense of control.