The "SOME PEOPLE" Essays
How Do You Define Health? The Voices of Do No Harm | Edited by Kimberly J. Soenen
Dwayne Corcoran, MD
Emergency Medicine provider in Long Beach, California
Former Attending Physician, Mount Sinai Hospital and Holy Cross Hospital, Chicago Instructor of Emergency Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University
Number of years practicing Emergency Medicine: 11
No organism exists in static form immune from the pressures of time and the exigencies of the surrounding environment. Humans, no more guaranteed safety from this than the river rock worn, slowly but surely, by passing water, must weather the pressures of time, disease, vulnerability and frailty.
Health, through its many expressions in our physical, social, and spiritual beings, embodies the resilience of the self to withstand these eroding tides of life. When absent—whether by accident, intent or our own poor harmful choices—our vulnerability to disease, illness and injury multiplies.
Good health, however, feeds forward, promoting an anti-fragility in the face of adversity that makes the self better suited to withstand increasing challenges and further stress. It is the wind blowing the oak day by day that makes the trunk strong against the storm.
As the many struggles we face as humans are varied, so, too, are the many paths to developing and maintaining health against the ever-changing world and our often violent society.
(Photo by Riley Gunderson.)