Moving beyond absence...
In light of the new piece I recently shared from Grantmakers in the Arts:
The pandemic has made clear that we cannot improve health by simply trying to get rid of harm (e.g., a virus; illness).
We have to CREATE a world in which a healthy life is possible (e.g., quality healthcare, information literacy, paid time off, ventilation, resources, sense of community)
Health must be defined as including access to well-being.
And note: This definition is the only logical one.
We cannot wait for harm or danger to vanish before we start envisioning and cultivating the structures and norms that actually...reduce and prevent harm and danger.
We have to talk, now, about what's necessary for humans to THRIVE.
Only when we create that, do we legit address illness.
Pandemic failures so far are "traceable at least in part to our dominant understanding of health—which devalues or ignores wellbeing."
Health has never been merely about what's absent.
It's not just, "What pain do I not have?"
It's about what's here.
If we want an absence of harm, we must create the presence of a collective capacity to thrive.
Any health effort ignoring this fact is...misguided, at best.
As I asked in the article, "What does it mean for a community to thrive? What will we create? And, knowing that we’ve always had a choice in how we define health, what definition will we choose?