Health is Wealth!

The documentary film, In Sickness and in Wealth, gives a very real forecast of how the inequalities of wealth will ultimately affect the health of all Americans. The contributing experts and narrators speak to demonstrate how life expectancy and personal health is statistically dependent on monetary income.  By showcasing three different citizens living in the same city but divided by social districts, the film drives the point that social class conditions can be even more powerful than the genes and histories carried within our bodies. I, like Corey, grew up with a single mom dealing with desperate financial insecurity and bottom of the rung survival. She worked long hours and still needed food assistance federal programs to feed our family. The stress of not knowing if we had enough was transferred to my sisters and I. Even though my mother was luckily very health conscious regarding nutrition and family dinners, we are now all middle-aged and dealing with myriads of health issues that were probably exacerbated by joining the workforce fairly young and raising families right after high school. The lack of generational wealth has added the pressure to work harder to catch up to others who have had a head start, leagues ahead of us. Realistically, I do not need a film to convince me that more money would have solved almost all of my struggles throughout life and ensured my longevity in this earth, but it is important to share the state of things in this America.

This sad reality of health inequality is another by-product of capitalist growth in this country. The capitalist compulsion to minimize cost at the price of decent living wages drives the divide between social gradients. In the film, poor Corey is pushed from here to there without any regards to this well-being. Corey is subordinate to his dominant bosses because he has wage insecurity and no savings to fall back on. Even though he is probably working harder than his superiors, there is no trickle down effect and the wealth acquired up top remains there. Corey’s lower position also comes with lack of autonomy and racial microaggressions. Because he has little to no say on what happens to his performance at work, he lacks the ‘control of destiny’ factor that translates into higher stress levels and a lowered immune function. It is no surprise that he is thirty-seven and already fighting hypertension.

Seeing the one percent dominate in both wealth and health makes our current planning for the next generation supremely important. If disease is affected by classism, then we must fight for health practices to be implemented as rights not privileges. We must instruct the next generation to enact changes that safeguard their health and longevity as a society. Like Tondra, I too went back to college to break generational cycles of poverty and illness. I want to become a teacher that shines a light into our world of subordinated complacency and give my students the tools to become autonomous in their bodies and health decisions. By teaching them to interpret writings and become expert critical thinkers, I hope to also prepare them to go past their 9th street world knowing that by investing in higher education they will ensure their own generational health and wealth. In order to accomplish this, I must first be aware of their basic needs and life at home to facilitate support. As a teacher I must become skillful in servicing students not only with learning objectives but with the resources necessary to help them perform at their best. A student who is physically and nutritionally healthy will be prepared to participate fully in their own learning journey. Ensuring parent and community engagement will add to bridging the gap that stops social groups from equally sharing in the advantages that lead to a longer happier life.