Oh, and he signed health care reform into law.
This morning, I've been thinking about brackets, public health improvement, and . . . trees. (Yes, altogether)
Bear with me, Buddy Bear, and visualize a tree, please. It has roots and a trunk at the bottom and then it, um, branches out into branches.
So now, these trees we're visualizing have roots at the base, and bunches of branches, all big and pretty, up top. Now I think I learned in sophomore high school biology that important stuff does occur in the branches. I think the leaves collect stuff, like light and carbon dioxide and Easter bunnies (anyway, stuff) and I think bees visit the flowers and do things and then you get apples or stuff . . . I will not discount the importance, or fail to acknowledge the beauty, of the branches.
But I also know, from my experiences of seeing dead trees, that if you get an ax or a chain saw and chop or saw away at the trunk of a tree, and yell "Fore!" (no wait--"Timber!") and all the branches come crashing down together, their connection to the roots severed--well, that does it, right? Those branches aren't good for much more than composting the forest floor or feeding a fire or being decked with lights and decorating a living room for a month or four.
My point being that the roots are way essential.
A bracket looks a little bit like a tree. For those who don't share the least little bit in my sports obsession, this is what a bracket (my 2010 NCAA Tournament bracket on Yahoo!) looks like:
See?--roots and branches. Now, super important (and wildly entertaining) stuff does happen in those far outside branches, no doubt about that. But the really momentous stuff, where you (living vicariously through athletic young people) get to wear super-significant hats and T-shirts and use a Werner ladder as a pedestal and do press conferences wearing a net as a necklace, happens in the middle part, which--climbing back down from the metaphoric branches--we are going to have to call the "root" of the whole matter.
If you were to cut out the middle part of the bracket and stop the tournament after say, one or two games, you'd have an insignificant deadly dull dud, or the BCS. [Boise State for National Champion!]
Now honest, all this root and branch and bracket talk really is leading to an interesting health care thought. It's not my thought. I am a member of the Utah Valley Exchange Club, and we frequently hear presentations from individuals who are doing interesting and important things to improve our community and our world. This morning, we heard from Susan Chasson, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Coordinator (SANE-C?) for the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Susan has years of experience as a nurse practitioner; a law degree; and a part-time faculty position at BYU.
Based on her years of experience and her observations, Susan knows that our national health care costs would be significantly reduced if we could become better at preventing/reducingviolence in our society. In her experience, people who have been exposed to or experienced violence in their lives, are significantly more likely to experience chronic headaches, chronic abdominal pain, chronic back pain, substance addictions, health fallout from bad lifestyle decisions of all kinds, and so forth--even years and decades after the adverse experiences. Susan shared with us about several studies which support this idea (links to follow). So people know, both experientially and academically, that violence in society is a key contributor to a lower level of physical well-being in a society. Reverse the idea again, and becoming better at preventing/reducing violence will improve public health and lower our national (and individual, you know) health care costs.
Chronic conditions, substance addictions, unhealthy lifestyle choices, and the actions and costs associated with treating these symptoms are branches. The root causes of the symptoms are--well, the root. The symptoms of lowered public health (example: substance addiction) necessitate many branchy actions (example: rehab programs) at a great public and individual cost. If we could get at a root cause (example: experienced violence) in such a way that a significant number of these branches never form--well, my arboreal metaphor is beginning to shake a little, but do you see my point? If you strike at a root so a significant number of heavy, expensive branches never form, you'll get a much more streamlined, easy to maintain tree. Since we're using this tree as a metaphor for health care, that's a good thing, d'y'see? [Excuse me--the metaphor police are at my door, wanting me to sign a warning]
But I really like the idea that we could so strike at a major root cause of a major issue. It gives us a point of attack. We have an understanding: violence hurts our health. We have an action item: preventing/reducing violence will improve our health and lower our health care costs. And as in basketball: competent execution of a philosophically sound game plan can lead to a whole lot of happy in the Health Arena too.
I'm still in the understanding phase. If you'd like to join me, here are links to information about the link between violence and health:
If you don't like to read study reports, here is a 4-minute video via "someone on Twitter."
Thank you for reading! Like all writers, I adore feedback in the form of comments ("hint, hint")
