Health and Diseases
It’s not only, the human body but other bodies and objects are also subject to health and disease. Plants, trees, crops and even the soil are affected with disease. Similarly, birds and beasts. Nothing s immune from diseases. Health is a blessing depending on good care and many other factors. Even the toughest metals, we are told, can be healthy or diseased.
Many civilizations flourished for a few centuries and then died away. Disease and decay overtook them. They could not meet the challenge of time. For instance, the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, the ancient Egyptian civilization, the Iranian civilization and many other cultures and civilizations of antiquity had their day and then ceased to be.
Our own social system and civilization are not free from disease. We ha Sati system, which is now almost a thing of the past. Untouchability, casteism, communalism, regionalism are dangerous social diseases. Are our economic, political, administrative and educational system even tolerably healthy? And what about our customs an practices? Are they healthy? Literature and other fine arts may likewise be healthy or diseased. So also our minds and our thoughts. Are our homes, our villages, our cities clean and healthy? And what about our holy places? Is crime on the increase or on the decrease in today’s India?
The super powers like Russia, America, a power like China, other European powers – are they free from disease? Is the armament race a healthy sign? Is racial conflict a sign of health? A society or a civilization can be powerful and can yet be diseased.
Health is not only a matter of the body. It is also something moral and spiritual. It is a rare thing to be a whole man and only such a man can truly be called healthy. And only that society can truly be called healthy which if free from injustice, exploitation, cruelty, corruption, greed and other evils. A few favourable factors can guarantee personal health. But a healthy society can be attained only after generation of enlightened and determined efforts.
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