18 Apr Time to Share A Few Things I learned over the Years

The older a person gets, the more important Health and Wellness becomes; and for parents, caring for their children is always a priority. Through the ages, perspectives and strategies have certainly changed, and in more recent times, this change seems to come with every generation.

 This brief autobiography introduces the first three of at least twelve short articles titled Health Tips. After completing those twelve, I expect to start work on Volume II. And, at some point, I will write more about the significance of the mind, or Soul/Spirit, the Chi, but in Volume I, I offer remedies that feed the physical body in order to help it be stronger.

  My perspectives and strategies have much to do with the time period between when I was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1951 and when I graduated from Wilmington High School in 1969. My parents’ generation experienced the great attack on small-scale farming in North America and a push towards almost exclusive use of pharmaceutical medication and surgery for health-care. WWII stalled things a little, but this continued through my childhood and I experienced the wonder of buying fresh produce from local farmers and gardeners and then watched them disappear.

 The new, giant food factories required mass chemical fertilization to produce crops. And I witnessed first hand how food grew in size and beauty. Initially, those huge apples still tasted like apples, but by my teens, the large, beautiful fruit had more of a chemical taste than a fruit flavor. I recall upper-elementary school, when I suffered strep throat all three years. The treatment was anti-biotics, which left me in a zombie-like daze for a week.

 Four other things stand out from my childhood and merit attention. My mother always served some fresh and some raw vegetable with every meal. And she loved nature, which led to many excursions over fields, through forests and onto mountain tops, and all these places offered wild fruits, mostly berries. Another was the Wilmington School Board, which was one of two boards to attempt, and the only to successfully integrate public schools in America after the Supreme Court ruling of 1954. Through this decision, I grew and learned with African-Americans from the time I was five until graduation. During those years, we experienced the reality that a person’s skin color was meaningless; we all knew who was good or bad, smart or stupid, mean or friendly and any classification had representation from both races. Another thing I learned in those years was the reality of the life, death and resurrection of the Christ.

This was challenging in that my teachers at Unitarian Sunday School denied Jesus any special status and all my Catholic neighbours told me I was doomed to Hell for not being one of them. So I learned early that there were problems in Rome, and that, combined with the racist Doctrine of Discovery, questions their validity as followers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 And one last reference to my school board is that they got something else right; in Grade 3, and continuing through Grade 12, any child could play a musical instrument. Parents only gave permission and assumed liability for damages to the instrument; there was no fee.

 In summary: faith, music, outdoors, wild fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables, exercise and a willingness to meet all people without prejudice all contribute to my imagination of our world, and these ideas/ideals guided my search toward a basic understandings of life’s origins and what our purpose might be and my practice of natural health methods.

Two weeks before my 21st birthday, I flew to Frankfurt, Germany to begin a two-year assignment at NATO HQ CENTAG. Instead of serving my time and going back to America, I embraced German culture, especially Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophical movement, staying most of ten years, before moving to Canada. Most notable of Steiner’s influence for this publication is his work in Agriculture and Medicine. Those ten years, three in Dornach, Switzerland, allowed to me to appreciate, understand and successfully use natural remedies. Initially, my studies were focused on art and philosophy, but I always appreciated the abundance of real food, which I learned to grow, and my last three years were therapeutic studies and more work with agriculture. Music and Theatre were key aspects of community life.

 Because of our ever-changing environment, the healing practices require cultivation, ongoing learning, refined skills, and even some adaptations. I try to keep learning and reflecting.

 I sincerely hope that the following Tips help you as much as they have benefitted me.

Also, I must submit that I am not a doctor, nor do I carry any Licence as a Health-Care practitioner, and therefore am not able to make any claims. In many cases, I provide available information and state when there is proof or not of cure or benefit. And there is some anecdotal information, which was true for me, but does not mean it will work for you.

Robert Dale, Edmonton, Alberta, March, 2023