This World Health Day, What Are You Doing To Build A Fairer, Healthier World?
By TASCS Board Member James McClung, Chief Development Officer of Reliant Medical Services

 “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” 

This quote, spoken by Jiddu Krishnamurti, rings just as true today. Within the last year, our global society has faced polarizing events that have made us question our governments, our societies, our selves, and our mortality. Krishnamurti also lived in a time with similar challenges. Born in 1895, he lived until 1986, thus experiencing the greatest injustices and plagues of the 20th century. Though through these times, he focused on human relationships, calling for a revolution of societies across the world.

However, this revolution was not against a government or a person or a discrimination. Krishnamurti called for a revolution of the human psyche. He urged individuals to look internally, placing human relationships before personal gain, individual beliefs, and other polarizing topics. In fact, Krishnamurti emphasized that revolution (or change) could not be brought about by any external entity.

This year’s World Health Day, held on the 7th day each April, aims to focus on “building a fairer, healthier world”. As we have all seen recently, our world is unequal, and conditions beyond everyone’s control affect our lives, causing illness, distress, and suffering. 

Fortunately, we do have the ability to prevent these inequalities, if we so choose. Health and human relationships must transcend our individual beliefs, gains, societies, and comforts. Until we each individually change ourselves, have we truly changed as a whole? This World Health Day, let us reflect on the words of our predecessors, review the recent past, look within ourselves, and ask, “What am I doing to help build a fairer, healthier world?”