Herophilus said, “When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied”.
The most fundamental level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the physiological needs, would dictate how man will progress to the next level. This level includes the basic requirements for the survival of man: air, water, food, clothing, and shelter. In principle, with these five elements, one has a sure chance of survival.
However, in this day and age, the term survival of the fittest would mean adding one more element to the five: education. To be competitive, one has to gain more knowledge and skills.
Although air and water are very important elements, food supply would still spell a great difference. It is hard to make your brain work on an empty stomach. As such, school children should be given a decent feeding program by the government. Coupled with a sound educational program, we will surely be equipping future leaders with just the provision of these basic needs.
Another element that needs to be added would be healthcare. With regards to health, it is more prudent to be proactive than to suffer the consequences of a debilitating disease. Will it be too much to ask for government funded flu vaccines for students?
With a 2.6T budget, how much are we willing to allocate for education and healthcare? It will all depend on what we deem important. Do we send children to school just for the sake of being in school or are we really equipping them so they can, in the future, be able to give back to the community? It’s all a matter of choice.
FROM THE MOVIE “DAVE” 1993
MURRAY:I gotta tell ya, Dave. I’ve been going over this a bunch of times and a lot of this stuff just doesn’t add up. Who does these books?
DAVE: I’m not sure. Can we save anywhere?
MURRAY: Well, yeah. But you gotta start making some choices.
This article appears in the July, 2015 issue of TLA Blaze. Click here to view or download a copy of this newsletter.