This is the Philosophy paper that I had to write for my Health Promotion class.
I wrote it about Jesus.
I attempted to put Jesus in a philosophy paper.
God help me.
I am praying that the Lord is with me as my possibly agnostic/atheist teacher reads this paper and grades it.
The Lord will either reward me for my faithfulness or show me how much the world does not like Him.
I hope it is the former.
I pray it is the former.
Please read my thoughts about life and about health and about everything......
I hope you enjoy reading it just as fully as I enjoyed writing it.
Here it is.......
Normally, I would start this paper off by using big words to sound smart. I would write about things that I thought other people would buy into. And I would describe my philosophy about life and about health as other people would see it. People would be impressed and maybe partially satisfied by my thoughts, but this would in no way describe how I really feel about life, about health, and about helping others. So what am I to do? Write about something that I feel other people may want to hear? Or write about something that I am passionate about, that defines me, that represents me to the core? Although I am risking a few ruffled feathers and stepped-on toes, I am convicted to choose the latter.
Before I describe how I feel about life and about health and about the world as a whole, I must first put a warning label on this philosophy statement. I know it may be quite politically incorrect to speak the name of Jesus Christ in a philosophy paper. It may be even more politically incorrect to bring him into the field of health promotion. What right does he have to be there anyway? But I cannot help but bring him into this matter. He is the reason I am in this field. He is my purpose in life and the philosophy of it. He may make some people uncomfortable, but then again, I’m not here to make people feel comfortable. I’m in this field to help people, to love people, and to change this world for the better. To embark on such a journey, without Jesus at my side, would be foolish. He is what sustains me.
My philosophy of life can be defined by one word: joy. Webster’s dictionary defines joy as “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation”. Although I find myself agreeing with Webster on this definition, it is not what I mean when I say joy. Rather, I am referring to the reason for my life; and by this, I mean what my life consists of. And that is exactly what it consists of: joy. Jesus. Others. Yourself. My philosophy is to put Jesus first, because it is by His grace that I am currently breathing. Then, I focus on others. This is the reason I am in the field of health promotion: to put others before myself, to love them unconditionally as Jesus has loved me, and to give them the tools to live a healthy and purpose-driven life, regardless of their beliefs. Lastly, I focus on myself. Who I am, what my goals in life are, and what I am here for. I want to be a light to others, plain and simple. This is my purpose in life and my philosophy of it: to radiate joy, and to give others the tools to find joy in their own lives as well.
My philosophy of health can also be defined as one word: happiness. Now, I could sit here and type a bunch of stuff about health that I also do believe. Like, “I believe health is a combination of daily choices”, or “I believe health is holistic and consists of many different aspects of life”, or “I believe health is something that everyone deserves a chance of having”. Don’t get me wrong. All of these definitions of health are well and good. I believe they all define health in one way or another. But they do not get across my major point. My point here is that health is equated with happiness, whether we like it or not. Let’s be real here. When we are not healthy, we usually are not very happy. And when we are not happy, we usually don’t have our health at the top of our priority list. So how do we go through life and remain consistently healthy, when happiness isn’t always so consistent? That is exactly why I am an in the field of health promotion. I want to show people that we can be both happy and healthy regardless of what life throws at us.
Also, I think it is quite unfair that so many people in this world are not in good health. Many of them were born sick. Many of them have gained some type of sickness from their daily lifestyle, or from their lack of available health resources. Many of them are sick because they are malnourished. Many of them will die today because of a lack of this good health. This is just not fair. We, the people of the United States, have the resources to help cure the diseased. We, the people, have the food to help the malnourished. We, the people, have the knowledge and the skills to help get many of these sick people back into good health. What we, the people, lack is the desire. We don’t care. Over half of the world currently lives on less than 2 dollars a day. That just doesn’t seem fair to me. I would like to see the day when health became a right, not just a privilege. So let’s make that a possibility. Let’s go out there and actually care. I want to have the same love for these people that Jesus has for them. I want to actually give a crap.
Health promotion is such a broad concept, and an even larger field. There is so much that you can do within the realm of health promotion. I entered this major with the idea that it was mainly just a route to nursing. Just one more stepping-stone on my way to becoming a midwife, and that was all. But health promotion has become something so much more to me. It is a field of great compassion, and I want to share that compassion with anyone and everyone. I have so much bigger goals for my life now than before I entered this major. I simply thought I would become a nurse, get my masters in midwifery, get married, have kids, and then live happily ever after. I wanted the modern American dream. One day in class we wrote out what we wanted our lives to look like. We included goals that we wanted to accomplish and things that we wanted to do. That just gave me so much higher standards for the goals that I wanted to achieve. I feel like I might be called to Africa now. I might help with the HIV/AIDS epidemic over there when I graduate. I may deliver babies in the African bush. They may have HIV. I may be their only hope at survival. These are the kinds of things I could see myself doing now, and it is all thanks to health promotion.
I think realism is a beautiful thing. Yes, I am a realist. I may talk about saving the world, and I may talk about doing great things with my life, but I know there is only so much I can do. I know that promoting health is such a big job, and I am such a small person. What impact would I have on the world anyway? I’ve never accomplished more than writing a 12-page paper and running a 10K, and these weren’t even large feats. What if I wanted to cure the HIV/AIDS epidemic? What if I wanted to stop poverty in its tracks and have every child in India become well nourished? Could I accomplish this? Rather, could I do it on my own? No, I couldn’t. My philosophy of life, and of health, and of the world is so big. I have such big plans. But I know that I couldn’t accomplish any of it without the one who has accomplished it all already: Jesus. He conquered the grave for me. I think I can conquer this global health epidemic for Him, one small step at a time. I hope this philosophy paper hasn’t offended anyone too much. It was merely my thoughts and my beliefs placed onto the front and back of one sheet of paper. They are merely words. Now, let me get out there and make them reality.
Forever His,
Rachel
