Editorial October 9, 1995 Issue

Health—unaffected by the weather

Russ Gerber

This past summer brought periods of extreme heat to much of the midwestern United States and to many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Physical suffering and a number of deaths were attributed to the high temperatures. Many individuals and agencies provided what help they could, and valuable lessons were learned about looking after the needs of one's neighbors. Still, how much more helpful it is when people are alert to the mesmeric action of the error that links health to material conditions.

Associating one thing with another happens all the time, often without our thinking about it. For example, just about anyone reading the words Onward, Christian soldiers, immediately associates them with a particular melody. They're from a classic hymn, of course. The words didn't originate connected to a melody, but we commonly think of the two as naturally joined together. Hear one, and immediately you recall the other. And it's a perfectly good association to make.

Some things, however, are associated with other things when they shouldn't be. Heavy traffic and flaring tempers, for instance. Obviously there's no rule that one must accompany the other, and yet for many of us just the sight of slow-moving traffic has us unconsciously bracing ourselves for some display of anger, as though it were inevitable that the two go hand in hand.

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