Bennington Banner from Bennington, Vermont • 5

yfff tf yiMinriMf i 4 i People patterns Banner, Friday, March 8, 1 974 An 'apple a day doesnt always work Dialogues: A day for celebration and action By FRANK LOKTAVEC "THAT THE INTELLIGENT man desires good health above all boons is a platitude and a fundamental truth," is an idea often ex pressed. If this idea were accepted by humans, tfie world would be Inhabited by an overwhelming number of people who dof not behave intelligently. Concern for ones health usually occurs only when one is not feeling well or is ill. The presumption that perfect health" Is within mans possibilities has flourished in many different forms throughout history. The fact is that complete and lasting freedom from disease is but a dream remembered from Imaginings of a Garden of Eden designed for the welfare of man.

The idea is completely incompatible with the process of living. These and other mistaken notions of health and disease are due, in large part, to a misunderstanding of the nature and meaning of "health." Most persons today, and nearly all medical authorities in the past, equated health to mean good health, andthus held it to be the opposite to disease. Many definitions of health meaning good health have been proposed with no agreement having ever been reached, because they were all qualitiative statements reflecting individual judgments. Some authorities went, so far as to say that health meaning good health cannot be defined. Thus using the word "health" to mean good health is meaningless.

i i By KAREN DOBKIN FORTNEY i i TODAY IS International Womens Day. Notmany of us know that; Ijiut our Ignorance is not because International Womens Day Is a newly declared holiday, something thought up by radlc-llb groups in New York City. In fact, women have been commemorated Internationally on March 8 since 1910. I suspect that International Women's Day has not been widely acknowledged over the last 64 years because it does not have the neutrality, nor the crisp purity, of Mothers Day, which is still the only day set aside for women that is afforded wide approval. In fapt, March 8 has decidedly socialist connections as well as pacifist overtones.

Perhaps its days of obscurity are drawing to an end; an Amherst radio station, WFCR-FM, is devoting todays broadcasts to the celebration of International Womens Day. IT WAS IN 1910 that International Womens Day was proposed by Clara Zetkln, a famous German socialist leader. She and hundreds of other socialists were at an international meeting in Copenhagen, where the plight of American working women was resoundingly scored by the gathering. Zetkln suggested that March 8 be established as International Womens Day in commemoration of the struggles of American working women. The rights of laboring women in this country were long unprotected by that time; when the unions gained headway, their first target was the appalling situation under which men were working.

By the early part of this century, the ultra-wealthy were still accumulating their enormous profits by abusing all workers, but women had no protections, no legal rights. Womens Day originated In the United States. On March 8, 1908, after agonizing years of struggling and striking, hundreds of women rallied in Rutgers Square in Manhattan's Lower East Side to demand better working conditions and the right to vote. Since 1910, International Women's Day has been celebrated in many countries as a day on which women unite in the struggle for equal rights, peace and justice for all. In the United States, observance of Womens Day diminished considerably during the late '40s and '50s.

The influence of the McCarthy communist witch hunts affected nearly everyone in this country who had had even the slightest hint of affiliation with any organization that Joe McCarthy defined as leftist and therefore subversive. It was also during this time that Americans began to withdraw, to isolate themselves, from the pressing issues of the world. Additionally, women, who had had jobs during the war years, were urged back into their kitchens so that returning veterans would be guaranteed employment. The American Way of Life took on a new flavor; It was suburbanized, settled, complacent and noncommltted. JOLTED BACK into consciousness by the war In Vietnam, we became more active, at least more aware.

In 1971, a delegation from the Women' International League for Peace and Freedom went to Vietnam where they learned about Women'a Day, When they returned, they proposed that Americans celebrate it. Their campaign took the form of collecting postcards from women around the world appealing to Nixon to end the war. In 1972 and 1973, March 8 was observed as a day of solidarity with the women of Vietnam. In the last two years, women have celebrated several ways; they have organized women's fairs, womens cultural events and womens radio programs. Women's Day, rooted In the struggles of working women, is a perfect time to organize panel discussions, rallies or delegations to officials to support demands for paid maternity leave and a higher minimum wage vetoed by Nixon).

It is also a time (o take action on, or form action groups to deal with, consumer-related issues inflated prices, shortages, housing, the energy crisis. We are Impotent for as long as we refuse to unite and organize. AS WE HAVE SEEN over the last year In this column, the interests of women are numerous they are local, regional, national and international. In the Vermont legislature final action is due on bills protecting our privacy, allowing capital punishment, providing for confiscation of motor vehicles without protection of the rights of the innocent, and limiting Vermonters' access to literature. There are issues in our state that directly involve the rights of women: employment practices, discrimination against girls in curriculum scheduling, role socialization in school curricula, sex discrimination in the provision of medical services, to name a few.

To have representative government we must force our representatives to respond to human issues. The results of our Town Meeting are a good beginning, but we cannot relinquish responsibility upon leaving the polls. Use March 8 as a day to think about the issues that concern you most and to devise a way to implement change. ONE'S STATE of health depends on two factors. One, the disturbing agent (bacteria etc.) and the other, the resistance capacity against that agent (immunity Each organism lives in a balance so delicate, that a slight shift could terminate its mortal existence.

Humans are always living within a finger's breath of ultimate catastrophe. What prevents a disease from developing la the bodys ability to maintain a balance, in which the resistance is flsater than the invading factor. Our bodies are so tough, so well constituted, as to be able, most of the time, to Ward off most of the factors that can harm us. Being infected does not necessarily develop into a disease. For example, most people have been infected, at one time or another with tubercle bacillus, and yet only a small portion of them developed tuberculosis.

Some time back, a woman called Typhoid Mary was so loaded with typhoid microorganisms, that would have caused typhoid in most persons, while she herself, never developed the disease. She was what is kncwn as a carrier. This relationishop between the disturbing factor and the body resistance can be pictured as a ratio between them. In a 1000 microorganisms 1001 resistance ratio no disease would develop, but in a 11 microorganisms 10 resistance it would. It is 1 not how many microorganisms are found in the body, but whether the existing body resistance is capable of overcoming this invading factor, that determines whether disease will develop.

Many experts in the field of cancer, for instance, believe that its control will not come with the finding of specific causal factors (virus but by discovering the faulty environmental condition in the fluid matrix the fluid that surrounds all the living cells) and discovering the factor (immunal) that prevents cancer growths. Looking Back Just Arrived! IN ORDER1 TO satisfy the scientific requirements of exactness, simplicity and operational clarity, the tprm "health" should be defined and used strictly as meaning merely a "condition or state of the organism. is his current state of health 7 Health is an abstract term like weather, a condition resulting from many interacting forces. This condition could be excellent, good, fair, poor, ill or what is labelled as disease. Good health as well as disease are both state of health.

Whatever the health condition, good or bad, it reflects the functioning of all the body parts, and thelnterrelation between them. All vital mechanisms of the body, varied as they may be, have but one objective, and that is to preserve constant conditions of life in its internal environment. This condition is always in a state of flux, but when it remains within a normal range, it is said to be in "good health. pi 6 8 8 Bennington Village from North Bennington. Levins Arts Workshop has officially opened in a converted residential building on the comer of County and North streets.

village voters to appropriate $20,000 for a sinking fund to help pay for a major expansion project. Artist-craftsman Ed Levin has moved to the metropolis of Allistair Cookes America Jaws The Best of Life Anatomy Lesson Oth erwi.se on this date 8 Plus Many Other Best Sellers znnincjton )l ookihofi In 1894, New York becomes the first state to pass a law requiring dogs to be licensed. In 1917, strikes and riots in St. Petersburg mark the start of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution. In 1944, French authorities adopt an ordinance giving French Moslems in Algeria the same rights as French non-Moslems.

i In 1962, the U.S. House of Representatives defeat a bill which would have increased its membership from 435 to 438. fc.1 8 I'lUiDt I'M I III I Main Mri-i't MLR lli'iminutun. I. BmBBBBBBBBBnBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB WHILE IT IS TRUE that the body cures itself, doctors play a significant role in maintaining- good health ih their patients.

When disease does develop, they discover what is going on in the body, and determine what the body is doing to heal itself. They can intercept or weaken the offending factor. They Ccan the resistive forces. Because of individual differences in their doctors never treat the disease as though it were an entity, but treat the person experiencing some internal, abnormal process. Their task is to restore the body to its normal equilibrium.

With a proper recognition that disease is a natural phenomena of nature, and thus, probably, an inerradicable process, the chief responsibility for ones maintenance of good health throughout life rests with each individual. Death cannot be prevented, but the resistance to disease can strengthened, and the onset of body deterioration can be retarded. This can be accomplished by being well versed in human physiology; by recognizing -the importance of preventive medicine; by recognizing significant symptoms; by early consultation with a physician; and by avoiding those activities that tend to accelerate, and indulging in those activities that 1 tend to retard body deterioration. Man should live by learning something about himielf, and if one is not, in part least, his own physician by 40, he is indeed a fool. (Houser) It is well to remember that our bodies are the most complicated of all machines in existence.

Although many strides have been made in the field of medicine, there is still much that is unknown The body holds secrets as yet undiscovered. Because of this, doctors cannot be expected to solve all of the noddies that the body presents. "A MANS OBSERVATION, what he finds good of, and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve good health. (Sir Francis Bacon). mm DISEASE, on the other hand, is a severe disbalanced, disturbed, deranged condition of the body, in which the function of each of its parts has departed from the normal, and in which the limits of normal adjustment have been exceeded.

Disease is a name given to a condition which manifests a similar not identical disturbed state. To a pathologist, disease is a "mental picture, composed by him or her, not the sick person, and is a summation of a group of biological conditions, circumstances, influences and interactions, all or part of which are abnormal to the body concerned. (Brockington) Disease is not some curious entity, animate or inanimate. It does not exist outside the body. It does not invade or assault the body and possess it.

We do not catch a disease or a cold Disease is a natural phenomenon. It develops within the body. For a disease to be an entity, we would have to assume that the condition of any single disease is always the same (same pathological picture, same symptoms, same history of development, etc.) in all persons afflicted with it; that it is a fixed state, never varying or deviating that neither the internal nor the external environment can alter it. None of these conditions is true. Furthermore, it is well established, that any one of the disease conditions can be triggered by a variety of factors or circumstances, and that any single disturbing factor can produce a variety of consequences.

-A 40 YEARS AGO March 8, 1934 Williams College has become the owner of the 1879-acre Hopkins estate located In the northwest section of Williams-town, it was announced today. The Bennington High School magazine "Catamount" was awarded a second prize at the annual competition of school papers sponsored by the Columbia Press Association. The Catamount was awarded second place for the class including schools with memberships varying from 301 to 800 pupils. President Franklin D. Roosevelt this afternoon sent to the Senate for confirmation the nomination of Ward II Lyons to I be postmaster at Bennington.

25 YEARS AGO: March 8, 1949 A master list of comics which might be considered subject to ban, based on surveys made in Massachusetts and New York communities, as, well as in Bennington, will be, prepared by a committee from the Bennington County Law Enforcement Association. The Central Vermont Public Service Corp. which supplies, electricity to Bennington has decided not to build a steam generating plant at this time, President Albert Cree disclosed. "Irene, a portrait by Lloyd of Bennington, won third place in the popular voting in the All-America Camera Club exhibit which closed following a successful showing at the Fleming museum in Burlington. 10 YEARS AGO March 8, 1964 The John Thompsons mark 50 years at Ormsby Hill as caretakers.

In the 1963 stockholders report Union Carbide widens the market for battery-operated devices. Incumbent Jaipes B. Gib-neys good sportsmanship has apparently moved officials to the Young Vermont Independent ptrty to withdraw their objections to the candidacy of his opponent, Salvatore Santarcangelo, in the race for Bennington Village president. The sources of stipply for the Village of Bennington water system have remained prac tically unchanged for more than 50 years. Thia year, for the second time in as many years, the water board is asking Rencle (his paper OUTICAL ADVERTISEMENT IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE the opening of its newest office in Pownal JUNCTION OF ROUTES 7 and 346 Monday, March 11, 1974 HOURS: Monday through Thursday 9 am-3 pm Drive-In facility 9am-5pm Friday all facilities 9am-6pm 1 1 i Come Visit The Catn to 9:00 P.M SATURDAY Alt DAY All The SHRIMP You Can Eat 2.39 'Here comes the President 1 Dfiantz ou if would (i lie: to ttfixm my unuxi tanC to al ihost io(to ootid fox mi in Sunday 1 ifictioa cA otxi) ipiciaC L7 dand (lfou t'o atf icfio Hifpid mi in mtf C-ld fox off lit.

Ot was indicd a xiwaxdiny iijuxunn I Winston W. Srd frM. col paw ta-Or bp roll I but IF YOU DONT SHOP ALL THE COFFEE YOU CAN DRINK 25 THIS WEEK YOU'LL PROBABLY PAY TOO MUCH! FormeHr Super Duper, Bennington HEADQUARTERS: NORTH BENNINGTON BRANCHES IN BENNINGTON PLAZA. BRATTLEBORO. MANCHESTER.

NORTH BENNINGTON. POWVALt.NEXT MONDAVI. PIT-N AM SQUARE AND EST DOVER. MONUMENT PI A2A BENNINGTON, VT. I iilAi wmM- I.