Good Health is WEALTH

Don’t know why, but as I grow older, I’m trying to limit my use of profanity. It’s a battle, because the older I get, the more naturally the profane words seem to flow. Granted, there is more crazy #$@* going around these days, but still, I don’t need to swear like a sailor or a Hollywood “star.”

Besides that, the grandkids can sneak up on me when I’m not looking.

I never heard my grandparents swear, and I’d like to keep it that way.

In the case of friends getting seriously ill, though, it’s not working. I want to scream at God (He understands…I hope) and say, “Is any of this $#%& $#@&*$# fair or necessary? (There is some alliteration there, you just can’t see it.) Why even create mortal bodies prone to cancer/disease?”

Especially children. I saw a boy the other day in the grocery store. Looked to be about 9, and as I spied his sad bald head and thin frame, the thought of chemo treatments sprang immediately to mind. I looked at his mom, thinking of what she was going through, the heartbreak, the anxiety, and I had to turn away. The sight was just too sad.

Cancer. The chemo, the radiation treatments that destroy the good cells while trying to destroy the bad. How people make it through that, I have no idea, nor do I want to know because, well, I never want to get it.

Excuse me for a moment while I take a drag from my e-cig.

I don’t think I’m as strong as the many friends I’ve had who have gone through it, which is what it takes to beat cancer. Mental toughness. Physical toughness.

“Hey, Wendorf, any more upbeat topics to discuss? You’ve already covered cancer.”

Actually, there is an upbeat topic: good health.

Health Beats Wealth

I have thought about it over the years. Good health, that is. Back in 1988, a very well-known McAllen banker and developer died from some deadly disease. I was sitting next to Barbara King, my old reporter friend from The Monitor, and I remember her saying to me in a somewhat philosophical tone: “Even with all the money in the world, he still can’t save himself.”

Obviously, this guy didn’t have all the money in the world in the literal sense, but at the time, he was certainly one of the richest men in South Texas and could easily have afforded any medical treatment available. He could have flown anywhere in the world for treatment, but there was none available for what ailed him. By the time the docs had diagnosed his cancer, it had metastasized past the point of salvation.

So, getting back to the issue of “Good Health.” If you have it, you are rich beyond measure, and I’m not sure people really give that idea enough thought.

Sadly, most people don’t even realize how rich they are with their good health still intact. Too many take it for granted. My oldest buddy, from 7th grade, who died three years ago from esophageal cancer couldn’t swallow anything for the last four months of his life, and every day, all of us swallow a glass of water without giving any thought to what a blessing that really is. We scarf down tacos like there is no tomorrow and think everyone in the world can do the same. Sadly, too many can’t.

Even those who are misusing their body, doing whatever to excess — drinking, smoking, eating, doing a quick line of meth before work — if they’re young enough, they can still turn things around. There comes an age, though, where once you reach the top and start the downhill slide, good health is hard to restore. There is little hope of reversing course.

Either your heart has been abused past the point of redemption from all of the excess weight you’ve been carrying around for too many decades, or, as was the case with my biological dad, you have poisoned your liver with too much alcohol until it finally says, no mas, I want out of here.

The point is, I knew it before, but watching five good friends fight the cancer battle these last several years has given me new appreciation for good health, and I no longer take it for granted.

My pleasure in life has gravitated toward the very simple:

If I wake up and there is no immediate need to call 911, I’m having a good day.

The simple things in life win out every time.