How Are You Doing?

Do we really mean this? Do we really want to know?

No, I’m not saying we don’t care about you or your health, but that question opens the door to a wide array of maladies, ailments or dispositions you may be suffering and want to tell me about. Do we really want to hear about your ear infection?

No, I’m not being callous but our conversations, especially as we grow older, centers on our health. If we are not sick, we know someone who is sick or our children are sick or our pets are sick. Someone is always sick or ailing. It is just how our bodies work.

No, I’m not saying you need to suffer alone, for your friends and family and a few professional being paid very well, will come to see you and try to cheer you up and feel better. Is it pity or concern that it may happen to them? And when people do come to see you lay up and suffering they can only offer remedies they had tried or whom else they know with the same health issue. We will even come back when you have a hangover because we have all been there.

No, there is nothing more appalling than a sick child but children get sick. We have created a society where we send our kids everyday to spread their germs to each other. Schools, like hospitals, are great places to go to get an illness. Kids are fairly resilient but they like to bring their germs home and spread it among the other family members.

No, I’m not saying to be uncaring about the family’s pet’s problems, but they shoot horses don’t they. How big does the pet have to be to not be discarded in the trash?

No, I do not wish any plague or affliction on anyone but we all get sick. We all have those bumps and bruises and we all have those creaky pains. The medical and pharmaceutical companies are working hard to give us lots of test and supplements and procedures and potions to make us well again. And we pay good money to our health insurance providers to help cover the cost. It is an interesting game we play.

No, I’m not saying use yoga or some far-fetched homeopathic psychedelic remedy for what ails you. That bum knee will be there tomorrow. That bad back can’t be replaced. Those bumps and tears can be patched but will just come back somewhere else.

So why is this the favorite topic of conversation? Why do our health matters bring us closer together? Why is our health more important than talking about our successes or our loves or our passions or that interaction with an owl you had this morning?

I sure don’t know the answer so I’m maintain my silence and feel the empathy of others who will share their afflictions.  Maybe it just makes us who we are?