Gettysburg Medical News
 The Clinical View
 by P.E. Hoffsten, MD
21 December 2005

CHRISTMAS – THE POSITIVES AND THE NEGATIVES

            For the past several years, the pre-Christmas column has been devoted to reflections regarding our blessings and extension of thanks to many people.  For those of us in central South Dakota, our blessings persist and our need to thank so many people for all the wonderful things that they do need to be repeated.

            For those in other parts of the world, trying to tell them that they are blessed, might draw an incredulous squint and cock of the head.  Tsumani’s in East Asia, hurricanes in New Orleans, power outages in eastern South Dakota and an ongoing war in Iraq, aren’t the kind of blessings we were hoping for.  The recent mortal causalities of two of our National Guardsmen from Yankton bring a stark reality of that war home to South Dakota.  Unfortunately, we feel very helpless in trying to deal with these situations.  These events seem to be out of our control and we cope with them the best that we can.

            But this year I am struck by two observations that seem to me to be more prominent than I am use to.  Both have very significant health considerations and both are within the control of the individual.

            I have always known that Christmas was the most commercial time of the year.  The greed and the blind drive to sell, sell, sell, this year seems at a new high.  TV advertisements take up fully 24 minutes of every hour that TV is on (I timed it myself).  The ads are directed to make you feel like an inconsiderate wretch if you don’t buy this, that or the other present for your child or your spouse or your friend or your mother.  A significant fraction of our population works two or more jobs just to make ends meet and now our advertisements push us to go use that money for gifts that the other person probably doesn’t even want much less need.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not being a scrooge and the concept of giving is a wonderful tradition but you shouldn’t have to feel guilty or inconsiderate.  You shouldn’t have to tiptoe around trying to balance what you gave to each child or each relative so somebody doesn’t feel slighted. Looking at if from the receiver’s side, you shouldn’t make comparisons to every other family member to make sure that you got your fair share.  The negative feelings alluded to above generate feelings of shame and guilt on the giver’s side and resentment on the receiver’s side.  These are very negative emotions that do lead to adverse health effects.  Somehow, we need to temper these emotions and be thankful for all of the blessings we have.

            The second observation this year blew my mind!  Our President sent a “Holiday Greeting Card” to a number of people and he was chastised for not mentioning Christmas.  Granting that central South Dakota is primarily a Christian community, not every place in this United States is.  The Jewish population in this country and the Muslem population in this country are substantial.  The multiple churches within the Christian faith do not all abide by the same beliefs in traditions.  Least we forget, the United States Constitution recognizes freedom of religion but only one President.  His attempt to send a generic message to all of the citizens of the United States is laudable and not something he should be criticized for.  The word for those that chastised him is “intolerance”.  Granting that there are certain principles and values that would probably best be universally accepted, that is just not the way the world is.   Religious beliefs, political considerations, sexual mores, dress codes, and plain old social manners vary from culture to culture, group to group, family to family and individual to individual.  It seems that all of our wars and all of our differences come down to one group or one person being intolerant of another group or another person.

            The turmoil begins when one group takes it upon themselves to require change in another group or in another person.  The war in Iraq is basically a religious war with various groups struggling for power.  People then begin to harm and kill each other.  On a smaller scale, the same phenomena goes on in our own country when one person does something another doesn’t like and winds up murdered, or one person is made to feel so guilty that they commit suicide, or one person becomes so conflicted that they drink too much and have a moving vehicle accident harming themselves and/or others.

            Within certain limits, we do not have the right and certainly not the capability to change other people’s behavior anymore than they have the right to change your behavior.  That intolerante need to change someone else is the route of incalculable health problems in our society.

            For the good of us all, a more tolerant attitude to those around us and to their diverse beliefs that do not harm us would be beneficial.  A less commercial greed motive at this beautiful time of the year would also be beneficial for the general health of us all.  Our society does not need more conflict or more shame nor more guilt than we already have.  Frankly, I don’t think we need as much as we have got.

            With that in mind, I wish all a Merry Christmas and hope for your best health in the next year and after!