YOU rid the world of...
By Amber
@AmbiePam (85422)
United States
August 10, 2007 6:42pm CST
We all know the world is full of disease. But if we had an opportunity to rid the world of one disease, which one would you choose to rid the earth of? I know some people would say AIDS. A lot of times that disease is preventable, but not always. I mean the person who had the bad blood transplant had no control over their situation. It isn't like they were hooking up with everyone in town. Nor could a baby help it that her mom was a drug user and had an infected needle. Another one might might be breast cancer. It's startling how many women, young and old, get that. I have a cousin with it and an aunt suffering with it. It's just awful.
My personal choice would be ovarian cancer. It is the hardest cancer to detect according to all the gathered info and facts. I know a girl of 16 who was stricken with it, and she had to have her ovaries removed. She lived, but it bothered her greatly that she couldn't give birth. Also, once ovarian cancer is discovered, it is often too late. That is why I chose it. The disease rarely gives its victim time for treatment before taking the person away from us for ever.
So which disease or illness would you choose to rid the world of?
12 people like this
17 responses
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
11 Aug 07
That's horrible that girl at such a young age was stricken with ovarian cancer. I'm not sure of the exact principles involved but I think pretty much all cancer is basically the same, just strikes different areas of the physical system, so instead of just naming one specific kind of cancer I'd like to see ALL cancers eliminated--wouldn't that be great?
5 people like this
@CraftyCorner (5600)
• United States
11 Aug 07
I would go after obesity. Obesity is a symptom of many different problems.
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Some people have a problem with food to energy to fat storage. Others have unknown food allergies that effect their bodies food processing capabilities, and that is made more difficult with the amount of hidden ingredients in American food. Even eating a diet of raw vegetables will not clear you of the dangers of hidden nasties in your food intake! The good Lord only knows what's sprayed on your broccoli while it grows on a field to keep pests off. No one knows what those things in combination do to the Human body.
@CraftyCorner (5600)
• United States
12 Aug 07
And some people treat ALL obesity as a matter of self control. Ticks me off.
1 person likes this
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
11 Aug 07
I think I would have to say Cancer, I have seen manyh die from this and it is a disease that hits many areas in the body in many different ways and for someone to have to be cut away bit by bit is just horrible, and I think it is the one disease most people dread getting.
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
11 Aug 07
Well I am wanting to get rid of it all, a they are looking at genes and such now it very well could be possible in the near future, lets hope so...lets all think positive, we will get rid of it all.
2 people like this
@chaygylmommy (2470)
• United States
11 Aug 07
WOW! What a good question...AIDS, all the cancers...great disseases. I would think about diabetes. Diabetes can cause so many problems throught life from greater risk to heart disease, loss of limbs, etc. I had gestational diabetes and it was horrible! It is such a hard thing to deal with day in and day out. Plus, as I said...you have so many other serious long-term complications like cardiovascular disease, chronic renal failure, retinal damage (which can lead to blindness and is the most significant cause of adult blindness in the non-elderly in the developed world), nerve damage (of several kinds), and microvascular damage, which may cause erectile dysfunction (impotence) and poor healing. Poor healing of wounds, particularly of the feet, can lead to gangrene which can require amputation — the leading cause of non-traumatic amputation in adults in the developed world. Adequate treatment of diabetes, as well as increased emphasis on blood pressure control and lifestyle factors (such as not smoking and keeping a healthy body weight), may improve the risk profile of most aforementioned complications.
4 people like this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
11 Aug 07
I know what you mean. My mom has it and her eyes change every six months and she has alot of problems and she has to be careful of pills she takes because having diabetes is already messing with her kidneys and other parts of her. she has been having problems with her feet lately which scares me because my sister in laws mom had to have a few toesw tooken off and other problems and it took so long for her to heal and my husband had a friend dye of it after he had both feet then legs and the one arm took off. It the diabetes practically eat him alive just like cancer can. Diabetes runs in my moms side of the family bad..her mom and dad both had it. her grandmother on her mothers side and all 4 of her aunts and her 1 uncle had diabetes. My mom and aunt have it. I have to be very careful because right now I am concidered pre-diabetic and me being so obese doesn't help matters any. I have started on a diet and exercise to help keep my sugar lowered.
4 people like this
@AmbiePam (85422)
• United States
11 Aug 07
Great choice! People have in mind that only people who eat a lot get diabetes. That just isn't true. I went to school with a girl who was skinny and played basketball. She developed diabetes anyway. Right now my sister has it, and I was told by my doctor, if I'm not careful I could develop it. I have a disease that isn't diabetes, but can lead to diabetes. But we can do a lot to prevent it. Eating right is so important!
You speak from experience and I can't imagine the strain of that while pregnant. Something that haunted me as a child was that I met a man with no legs, they had been amputated due to his diabetes. His right arm was at risk at the time we spoke. I just couldn't get that image out of my head.
3 people like this
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
11 Aug 07
Disease of the mind. This in my dictionary refers to the negativity in our mind. It may be hidden or apparent for some. One day or another, this disease is bound to surface and when one subscumbs to it, that's it, all is lost. How is it so?
When one is infected with a disease, in my opinion, it is considered physical as detection and treatment is available. It is only the extent of the treatment available and the reaction to the treatment. How the patient responds to treatment depends greatly on the state of the mind and how the person cope with the news and disease.
More importantly, is how the patient or "prospective" patient prevent the physical disease from occuring. Most diseases are "created" in a way either by self or inherited from parents. Take for instance the top killers - high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholestrol, cancer - which is not a result of the food we intake? What we eat is a result of what we think, again the mind. If the source is "treated", there is no inheritance. lol.
Beats me, what am I blabbering? I must be out of my mind.......
4 people like this
@wisconsin26 (3859)
• United States
11 Aug 07
Actually I have two and that would be AIDS and Cancer.. How ever people with cancer have been cured from it.. So that isn't the biggest on my list.. AIDS would be the biggest and your right alot of people that have blood transfusions don't have any control over it but the hospital does.. The blood is suppose to be tested before its put in another's body.. Alot of people though that do have Aids personally I don't think care about life.. So they aren't going to use protection why should they you know they already have it.. HIV is preventable though and that's called using protection and using it the right way... Just my oppion.. I just read something about cervical cancer and they is something that can now detect it I don't recall what though.. So there is hope out there it's just the fact of getting things right!!
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
11 Aug 07
I would choose to rid the world of cancer. I would rather not be specific, as I hate all forms of cancer, as it is so devastating to the patient & their families.
If I had to choose pone form of cancerm, I would choose brain tumours. Why? Because they destroy one's brain before you die. Other cancers don't. You keep your mind before you are cured oir die. With a brain tumour, you oftenm loose your vision well before you die, & then it destroys your brain. A brain cancer patient doesn't even know who their loved ones are.
@Yestheypayme2dothis (7874)
• United States
16 Aug 07
Not to copy you, but you certainly present a good case for chosing it. I choose ovarian cancer.
1 person likes this
@KarenO52 (2950)
• United States
13 Aug 07
Cancer, Aids, and Heart disease are horrible, but I would wipe out dementia if I could. Two people I'm close to have dementia now, and it's so sad to see their decline. They also have diabetes and COPD, and one has CHF. My mother in law has cancer, and I've just lost a friend to cancer, but from what I've seen, the dementia causes more suffering due to the fact that it's so prolonged, and those with the dementia don't care to take an active part in following healthy guidlines that would lessen the effects of their other health problems.
@AmbiePam (85422)
• United States
13 Aug 07
I know dementia well. The only grandpa I know is in the firm grasp of it. It's part him, part not him. And my grandma can hardly keep track of him. It's going to be long journey. We love him, but I don't live with him. I can't imagine HOW my grandma does it. I know she is very discouraged.
1 person likes this
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
11 Aug 07
I like to rid of AIDS because as of this time it does not have any cure. I think there were immunizations done for women to prevent cervical cancers. I heard this from a friend. So I guess no need to rid of it now. I think any type of disease is scary, however there are disease that can be treated with the advance technology. God bless!
@AmbiePam (85422)
• United States
11 Aug 07
There are different kind of cervical cancer. There has been only one vaccine just newly introduced that MAY prevent ONE kind of cervical cancer. So even if that strain was prevented, there are different kinds of cervical cancer a woman can still get. Add to that, there is no long term study to show that that one new vaccine will work long term.
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
14 Aug 07
I wasn't going to respond to this, but from your girl scout discussion, you at least believe in a creator and though this may not be what you really wanting for an answer, this is what I have to say.
The one disease that I would get rid of would be "sin" That covers it all, so I don't know if that is cheating, because it is a belief, but one I know will cure all..
@AmbiePam (85422)
• United States
14 Aug 07
Oh girl. Jesus is the only reason I'm still living. I would have given up on life a long time ago if it weren't for Him. I was born and raised in a preacher's home, but it wasn't until I was an adult that I fully appreciated fully what God had done for me. There just are no words!
1 person likes this
@goddessglamourpuss (261)
•
11 Aug 07
Ordinarily if it was just one then it would have been cancer but now I think I would have to choose Alzheimers Disease.
Although thankfully no-one I know has suffered from it but in my working life I have come across a lot of people who did and it is a really horrible condition.
The sufferer is well aware of the diagnosis and suffering only mild symptoms for years. The sufferer literally changes in front of family and even forgets who they are and in the later stages often becomes extremely aggressive and violent. Add to that probably double incontinence and the need to be supervised 24/7 over a period of 10-14 YEARS.
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Aug 07
Ridding the world of a disease, any disease, would save lives and more - it would save those who love the afflicted from their pain and grief. But if you had that power, to choose one disease over another, it also means you choose to save only some and allow others to die. Could you decide whom to save?
I have Multiple Sclerosis. Should I choose that? I wouldn't because although it can have severe symptoms and affect my quality of life in many negative ways, I would be haunted by the faces of small children dying of leukemia, or loving fathers whose minds are ravaged with the dementia of Alzheimer's - those I chose not to save.
There is one thing that destroys lives like a disease, and I would like to rid the world of that one thing. Poverty.
Get rid of poverty and you destroy the breeding ground of want, ignorance, greed, despair and even disease.
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
11 Aug 07
If I had my choice, I would rid the world of all cancers!:)
@gardengrrl (1445)
• United States
12 Aug 07
I would decline to choose. Disease is the only predator that can keep the human population in check. While tragic in individual circumstances (my almost SIL was diagnosed with a fatal kind of brain tumor in July, so I know what I'm talking about), disease is the only reason humans haven't completely overwhelmed the planet. Think about it... every time the concentration of humans in a given area gets too great, disease breaks out and reduces the population dramatically. We always seem to forget that humans are subject to higher laws, the laws of nature, just like any other mammal walking the Earth!
Instead, I would rather rid the human heart of ignorance. I would wish that every human born was guaranteed to develop compassion and empathy toward all living things. Disease hurts and often kills, but ignorance destroys.
If we got rid of ignorance, then we could work on eliminating envy, which would bring down the majority of hate, and we really would be on our way to a better world!
Thanks for the interesting discussion!
@AmbiePam (85422)
• United States
12 Aug 07
I think you are the third one to try to rid the world of a human trait intstead of disease. As for not choosing to eliminate disease bcause of overpopulation? Not every disease kills. Some are agony, but don't make a person die. I see no correlation between overpopulation and those types of diseases.
1 person likes this
@sandwedge (1339)
• Malaysia
11 Aug 07
i would like to rid the world of the disease of HYPOCRISY. thats the worst disease ever.
1 person likes this
