This is in response to this article published on news.com.au

I always say, there are four main overarching reasons to end up in hospital, often a combination of these:
1) Elderly
2) Obesity
3) Foolish
4) Unlucky

Unfortunately for some, for whatever reasons (genetics, some unique circumstances or environmental exposure or who knows), they can do everything in their power and still get sick, like this poor man, who falls into the least common category of being exquisitely unlucky.

But the message here is not that we shouldn’t bother; because there are still plenty of other of ways in which we can end up in hospital, through aging poorly, eating poorly, gaining excessive weight and negatively affecting our body composition, or doing something stupid like getting addicted to drugs/alcohol/cigarettes or jumping off a roof while we’re drunk.

This man is in hospital by fate of misfortune; but his fellow hospital mates are there by their own design, and he is not impressed.

The point is, as expressed in the disgust this man has for his fellow patients: though on rare occasions sickness can’t be avoided, in the case of the 99.99999% of other reasons that it can be avoided, we should put in the effort and do the right things to stay out of the hospital. Because in the vast majority of the time it can be avoided, and thus we should not take our health for granted.

It is to the benefit of ourselves, and to our fellow man by the examples we set and the community resources we save by not ending up in hospital, that we do our best, within reason, to maintain as high a level of health as we can.