The Sin of Being Sick Unnecessarily
By Adelaide D. Wellman
AS "none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself," so one's state of health affects others, not only as it bears upon the question of his living or dying, but also as it tends to mark the degree to which he helps or hinders those whose lives touch his. The trite assertion that many a prisoner has been hanged because of the judge's indigestion, recognizes one aspect of this subject. And as a person's digestion is controlled, in large measure, by his own habits, he is in the same measure responsible for the ills that result from its impairment. Doubtless many errors against health are due to ignorance, but an unimpeachable authority reckons ignorance as sin. It certainly is not a thing to be hugged to one as a shield against self-conviction and reform. In matters of health, as in those considered more strictly spiritual, the worst transgressors are the self-complacent—those who, while ignorant of the most important principles, either consider their fragmentary knowledge as all-inclusive, or else think the entire subject unimportant, mayhap even glorying in their disregard of its laws. However, many failures to guard the health are due not to ignorance, but to indolence, or vanity, or greed, or appetite, or other equally ignoble causes. Few persons of ordinary intelligence are not cognizant of the fact that physical exercise is essential to health, and that a restriction of any organ of the body is incompatible with its normal function, also that chilling of the feet and ankles is a cause of divers maladies. Neither do many persons lack the knowledge that too long continued exertion of muscles or mind not only endangers the organs thus taxed, but also interferes with the operations of other organs, specially by keeping from them the supply of blood they need. Not a few of those who despise the gormand and the drunkard, are themselves victims of pampered appetite—appetite for confections, or for too highly seasoned foods, or for the ordinary stimulating table beverages, as tea, coffee, and chocolate. That these beverages are stimulants merely, and not nutrients, is coming to be generally acknowledged by people who have given intelligent study to the subject. Another fact that is becoming more widely recognized each year, is that the food of many persons consists too largely of protein, specially meat, such a diet tending to rheumatism, disease of the kidneys, and innumerable other ills. When the meat used includes shell-fish, as lobsters, crabs, and oysters, or the equally objectionable swine, still another element of danger is added. Wholesome habits of life bring abundant reward in freedom from depression and pain, in vigor and endurance.