The Keys

A man is walking home on a dark night and he sees his neighbor on all fours, groping around under a streetlight.  "What are you doing?" he asks.  "I'm looking for my keys," is the reply.  After a few minutes of unsuccessfully helping his neighbor find his keys, the man asks, "Where did you lose them?"  "Over there in the dark," his neighbor points.  "Well then, why are you looking for them here?" the man asks.  His neighbor replies, "Because the light is better here."

Good hearted people who genuinely want to improve themselves and/or want to make the world a better place often fall short of their goals because they focus on the wrong place: superficial issues or symptoms, rather than the root causes of a problem or issue.  Also, sometimes their belief system interferes with their ability to see the facts clearly and to see all sides of an issue with an open mind.

It is much more difficult and troublesome to thoroughly and rationally analyze a problem, separating belief (and emotion) from facts than it is to focus on a glaring symptom.  Raising awareness of what is good (holistic) health could provide the answer to many of our human challenges.  Passing laws and preaching from the pulpit have limited value unless the reasons for underlying human behavior are addressed also.  This demands looking inward and challenging our beliefs.  Most of us avoid introspection as it is often disturbing.

The above is true on a society wide and world wide level, as well as an individual level.  Imagine World Health seeks to improve the human condition by confronting the root cause of our human problems, i.e. poor health rather than the symptoms.