My Biggest Fear

 

My Biggest Fear

There are many things to fear during what I call this ‘Corona virus era of 2020’. There’s the virus itself, and Bill Gates with his desire to create a mandatory vaccine that would contain microchips (I would like to think we are smarter than that!), and fear of a collapsed economy, and fear of fear itself!

But what I am most afraid of is that we are teaching our children and grandchildren to fear GERMS. The founder of the germ theory, Louis Pasteur himself, stated that it’s not so much the germ as it is the terrain. (They say he said this on his death bed, but I’m not so sure about that.) In other words, germs cannot live in a healthy environment, i.e. healthy tissue.

I have spent my entire 40 year career, as a chiropractor and nutritionist, teaching people that germs (microbes) are necessary and beneficial to life. Scientists studying the microbiome have found that our bodies contain trillions of microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. These microbes live in and on our bodies and perform many functions essential to life. We are exposed to a myriad of bugs (good and bad) on a daily basis, and our immune systems are designed to tell the good from the bad and to mount defenses against the bad. It is necessary for us to be exposed to viruses and bacteria so our immune system can develop a healthy immunity to them.

Remember chicken pox parties? In my day, when a neighbor kid came down with chicken pox we would all gather at their house in hopes that we would come down with the chicken pox also. We would develop a natural immunity and our immune systems would strengthen. We would play in the dirt and expose ourselves to germs, and we didn’t run around with bottles of hand sanitizer and Clorox Wipes. (I have not bought a single bottle of hand sanitizer in my life).

People are afraid of getting sick, afraid to suffer with a fever, cough, congestion, and body aches. But these are normal immune responses. This is how our immune system exercises and gets stronger. We are now teaching our children to fear germs – wash your hands, use hand sanitizer, wipe down everything with Lysol, stay away from everyone. This fear will live beyond the Corona virus era. We are creating a generation (or many generations) of people who will believe they have no control over their health.

Just less than 100 years ago, people knew that eating plenty of fresh, whole foods, taking cod liver oil, and playing outdoors was good for their health. And when they got sick they rested, took vitamin C, went to the chiropractor, used Vicks Vapo Rub, and let the illness run its course. This is not the norm today. Now, at the slightest sign of illness or discomfort, we go to the doctor and/or reach for a medication to ease the suffering. This only weakens the immune system as its attempt to conquer the illness is thwarted.

When this Corona virus era has ended, I will have to spend the next 40 years once again teaching people that they do have control over their health, germs do not cause disease in a healthy body, and we need to be exposed to germs to strengthen our immune system. In fact, people who say that they never get sick, probably don’t have a strong enough immune system to mount a defense against the germs. They will inevitably end up with a more serious illness down the road.

So, my biggest fear is not this new virus. It is the huge impact this fiasco will have on the mindsets of our young people. They are being taught to be at war with germs. They are being taught that they have no control over their health. They are being taught that medications and vaccines are the answer to all diseases. They are being brainwashed and lied to, and that is very scary indeed.

Yours in health,

Barbara Mitchem, DC, ACN