It’s probably not a good thing when your cardiologist calls you on a Saturday afternoon. “Do you have a minute to talk?” he said. ‘Sure’, I thought, as I sat down in the nearest chair.
It seems that I didn’t quite pass the stress test that followed a visit to his office in June. After some discussion the decision was made that I would have another cardiac catheterization, so one was scheduled for Friday the 13th. I decided not to look at that as an ominous sign, but I was not looking forward to it. The last two cardiac cath’s have made me so sick my husband thought I was dying and I just wished I would. With the promise that something could be done to alleviate the sea-sickness I usually experience, I went along with the schedule.
Well, Friday the 13th has come gone and I am still here and as it turns out I am in pretty good shape for someone plagued by my heart conditions.
All of this has caused me to think a lot about the heart. We are all plagued by heart conditions, whether we recognize it or not. It’s such a small organ, no bigger than the size of a balled-up fist yet we cannot survive without it. People can live for years with no brain function, but once our heart stops beating, life ceases to exist.
Our hearts do not just measure whether or not we are alive, it also measures the quality of our lives. As I look around our nation I’m afraid our hearts are not doing a very good job.
We seem to be letting our brains make all of the decisions: in money matters, in friendship, in political matters, in whether or not we are going to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves, and in how to deal with those who are different from ourselves. All of our decisions appear to be based on calculations that we think are financially and materially right for us rather than on what is best for the heart. We’re like someone who knows they should eat right in order to best take care of their heart, but who is too addicted to junk food to do the right thing.
In a sense, our nation has become heartless and I question how long we can survive. It’s one thing when a nation becomes heartless in dealing with its enemies. It’s an entirely different thing when it becomes heartless in dealing with itself.
We all have friends who have quit speaking to us because of political differences. How stupid and senseless. We have not even taken the time to determine if we have any common ground, any areas where we might agree, any philosophies that we can rally around together.
I was reminded once more of one thing this week; that my heart has an impact on the entire body. When it is not working correctly, my entire body suffers from the effects. Our country is suffering now. It will not get better until we all have a heart catherization and look deeply within to see where the hardened places are. Only when we root those out will our country be able to heal.
I would be nice if I could blame all of my heart issues on genetics. I could of course. My grandmother died from heart disease when she was in her sixties. My father and uncles all had heart problems. But, as much as my genes play a part, my actions are to blame as well. I do not eat as healthy as I should. I could exercise more. I cannot blame anyone else for the condition of my heart. I have to accept that there is more that I could be doing to improve my heart’s condition.
Likewise, there is something that every citizen of this country can be doing to improve the heart condition of our country. We can exercise more restraint and better judgment in dealing with those who do not share our same viewpoint. We can reduce our craving for the sensational, for the violent reaction to the opposition. We can take in healthy and positive thoughts as opposed to existing on a diet of negativity.
As an old proverb says, “Above all, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” I would suggest that we need to guard the heart of this country. It was founded upon sound heart-healthy principles. We cannot let it be destroyed by carelessness. The heart matters!