We hear a lot of news over the course of a week and we have a tendency to sort them into different categories. We generally recognize the good news and the bad news. But really, all news is related – just as we are all interconnected. This week in the news a few stories stood out to me.
The Japanese government has stopped their slaughter of Minke whales, after being found to be in violation of whaling laws in the Antarctic – that’s good news.
There has been some scary news. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produced its most stern warning yet on the state of climate change. The report, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability states:
“Climate change has already affected agriculture, human health, ecosystems, water supplies and some peoples’ livelihoods. The striking feature of the effects is that they are occurring from the tropics to the poles, from small islands to large continents, and from the wealthiest countries to the poorest.”
Some other very bad news was revealed in the US. The government has just announced that healthcare spending rose last quarter, at its fastest pace in 10 years – a development that will undoubtedly create higher costs for everyone.
According to a report in USA Today (March 31, 2014), this increase was driven by an $8 billion rise in hospital revenue – more than the previous four quarters combined, quoting the Census Bureau and RBS Americas. The authors were puzzled at the massive increase in revenue despite the number of inpatient days actually dropping 1%. The likely explanation was that patients were being billed much higher fees for hospital stays and services.
How are these news stories related?
The problems and solutions we have in the world are the result of how we think and behave. As humans, we create so many problems, and yet we have a capacity to solve, or even prevent these from happening in the first place. While we can celebrate that Minke whales are no longer in immediate danger, our rising health care costs and continued insult to our environment are serious challenges that won’t be solved with our current level of thinking, or laissez faire attitude. In the same way, our perceptions of health need a major adjustment.
We have incredible abilities, with our intention and actions, to be change agents for a better world for us today, and for our children tomorrow. However, for this to occur we need to having different conversations.
At Life West, our vision of creating a brighter future for humanity will be realized if we have more chiropractors, with a deep understanding of chiropractic and the world we live in. We need more chiropractors practicing in all parts of the globe and living lifestyles congruent with that philosophy. For this to manifest, we need more Life West graduates. Period.
This spring quarter the incoming class represented the 6th straight quarter of enrollment growth, and our total college enrollment is up 50% on two years ago. That is great news!
On the 3rd April, my team and I will deliver our 100th Career events to prospective students in three years. We are excited about this milestone, but we are just getting started.
Also this month, we will take 100 students and staff into the Sierra Mountains for our 7th LIFE 101 retreat – an opportunity for our students to focus for three days on how we can have a deeper understanding of the human experience.
Thank you for your support in making our vision manifest. Together we can change our perspective and the relationship we have with our home – mother earth.
There is much work to be done.
