On membrane inflammation

Today's topic is right up my alley. That's right, we're talking about an inflammation of the meninges. Ohhhh yeah! Sexy! Go go meningitis! I think that I ought to start a super sentai team based entirely upon cerebrospinal disorders. Meningitis, inflame! Scoliosis, bend! Encephalitis, swell! Multiple sclerosis, cannibalize! Alzheimer's, forget! And together we form, PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE!

Anyone reading this blog for the first time undoubtedly thinks that I'm a horrible, horrible person. And he's right. He's so, so right.

Actually, there's not a great deal that meningitis prompts me to say. I suppose I could go deeply into what I think are the problems with the American health care system, one of the worst actually being a seemingly complete disregard by the average American for their own fitness and well-being, which is symptomatic of an increasing trend toward diverting responsibility from ourselves and onto whatever convenient scapegoat may be available. Yeah, I'm pretty disgusted at the fact that an ENORMOUS amount of our health care spending is toward disorders and diseases caused by, to put it simply, BAD HEALTH DECISIONS! Smoke a pack a day for twenty years? Guess what - you're probably going to get lung cancer. Eat nothing but MacDonalds food and never exercise? I can pretty much guarantee you're going to end up with a whole slew of heart-related issues. And I find it kind of hard to sympathize when that sort of thing happens. It's like asking me to feel sympathy for someone who, after being told repeatedly that walking over a bed of hot coals is going to get them burned, does it anyway and then complains about third-degree burns on their feet. Just because the burns in this case take place twenty or thirty years later doesn't really make the person any less responsible for their own injuries.

Our health care system definitely has its problems, but so much of the strain on that system comes from a mentality of entitlement, that we can do whatever we want to ourselves and that it's somehow the medical community's responsibility to pick up the pieces when our bodies start rebelling against us. I'm not saying everyone ought to be a complete health and fitness freak, but come on people. It's really not that hard to eat healthier foods, go with the burgers and the fries just once every week or two, and take a brisk walk in the evenings. Doesn't sound like too much, but just that little change in behavioral patterns can reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer by a tremendous amount.

Ugh. Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. This just happens to be a certain point of soreness with me. And I guess I lied - I did have a fair bit to say about meningitis after all.