Health.
Back to Advice to Young Men on Their
Late hours, irregular habits, and lack of attention to diet, are common errors with most young men, and these gradually, but at first imperceptibly, undermine the health, and lay the foundation for various forms of disease in after life. It is a very difficult thing to make young people comprehend this. They sit up as late as twelve, one, and two o'clock, frequently without experiencing any ill effects; they go without a meal today, and tomorrow eat to excess, with only temporary inconvenience. One night they will sleep three or four hours, and the next nine or ten; or one night, in their eagerness to get away into some agreeable company, they will take no food at all, and the next, perhaps, will eat a hearty supper, and go to bed upon it.
These, with various other irregularities, are common to the majority of young men, and are, as just stated, the cause of much bad health in mature life. Indeed, nearly all the shattered constitutions, with which too many are cursed, are the result of a disregard to the plainest precepts of health in early life.
As health is the indispensable prerequisite to a proper discharge of the duties of life, every man is under obligation to society not to do anything, which, by producing a diseased condition of the body, renders him unfit to attend efficiently to his work or office. This is the view that we are anxious to impress upon the minds of those for whom we write. Although a man, feeling and thinking altogether from self, may imagine that he "is his own man," as some express it and therefore at liberty to do with himself as he pleases — a little reflection must lead him to see that this is a great error.
No man stands alone in society, or can be independent of others. Each forms a part of the great social body, and must faithfully and diligently do what he can for the common good. There exists in society a community of interests, and each works for the whole, whether he designs to do so or not. The farmer tills the soil, and draws therefrom his abundant harvests of grain and other products meet for the sustenance of man and beast. But it is not for himself, and those immediately dependent upon him, that his fields are rich with grain; they could not consume the product of one year in ten or twenty years. No, his work is for the whole, and he receives his proportion from the labor of the whole. Themanufacturer cannot wear the hundreds and thousands of yards of cloth that are produced by his looms in any year; they go to clothe the whole community. The builder can occupy but one house; and yet he builds many. The handiwork of the artisan is nearly all for the comfort, convenience, and luxury of others.
While thus we see that every man labors for the good of the whole, we find that every man receives back from the labor of the whole, all that he requires for health and comfort. It is the labor of others which produces the clothes that warm and protect him, the food that he eats, the house that he lives in, and the furniture which makes that house convenient and comfortable for himself and family. It is rarely, indeed, that his own hands produce any of the things absolutely essential to life, health, and comfort.
Bearing this in mind, it can easily be seen that no man has a right to abuse his health — and thus lessen his ability to do his part in society for the common good. What one man has a natural and absolute right to do — that is the inalienable right of all; and if one man has a right to abuse his health, regardless of its effect upon others — then every one has a right to do so. But, were all to sacrifice their health to pleasure, all agricultural labors, all manufacturing and mechanic arts, would be imperfectly done, and the whole community would suffer. Or, if all who tilled the ground were to destroy their ability to labor steadily by irregularities of life, while the manufacturer and the artisan pursued their work with vigorous health — a great wrong would be done to the latter. They would give to the farmer clothes, and the various utensils needed by him in the house or field — while he would return them but scanty food, and that, perhaps, poor in quality.
What is true of the whole is true of the part; and therefore, if it is wrong for the whole community to lead irregular lives to the destruction of health and the ability to perform those uses necessary to the well-being of the whole human race — then it is wrong for any individual to do so; for every failure on his part to work to the extent of his ability as a healthy man — is an injury to some other member of the common body. This is an immutable law.
Regarding the subject in this point of view, every young man who reflects at all, and who is not so thoroughly wedded to self as to be utterly indifferent to the well-being of others — will see that he is under a solemn obligation to seek the preservation of his health, in order that he may be able to do his part for the common good. To act from this end, is to act wisely and nobly.
But, as there are few, if any, in this thoroughly selfish age, who can or will thus act — then considerations of another, though less exalted kind, must be urged upon young men, in order to make them see the necessity of preserving their health. But before doing so, it may be necessary to repeat the declaration with which we set out — that late hours, irregular habits, and inattention to diet — will certainly undermine the health, and lay the foundation for diseased conditions in after life. The effect will be various in different constitutions. One may destroy the healthy tone of his stomach, and become, for the best half of his life, a miserable dyspeptic. Thus, for a few years of inordinate indulgence in the pleasures of the table — be obliged to pay the penalty of abstinence from nearly all generous and palatable food, and suffer from the entire derangement of every healthy organ in his system. The inability to perform perfectly the work
of his office, will not only injure the community, but himself; for it is a law in the social economy, that he who contributes most to the common stock — shall receive most in return. To bodily sufferings of a most distressing kind, will therefore be added the deficiencies of worldly goods, arising from unequal and unsustained exertions.
Another, inheriting a predisposition to diseases of the lungs, may so weaken and disturb the vital forces by irregularities and excesses, as to render the lungs highly susceptible to all disturbing causes, and find all his hopes and energies blasted just in the prime of life, by the development of an incurable pulmonary disease. While another may so shatter his nervous system as to be unable to bear any business excitement, any prolonged effort, or any exposure or fatigue whatever — at a time when all these are absolutely necessary to the sustenance of a family.
As everyone inherits from his parents predispositions to diseases of body, as well as to diseases of the mind — the health of the one, as well as the other, depends upon an obedience to just laws, both physical and moral. Whoever violates these, inevitably entails upon himself disabilities and sufferings; and the earlier in life this is done, the deeper will be the impression made, and the more lasting its injurious consequences.
Let every young man, therefore, pay strict regard to his health. Let him be temperate in eating and drinking, and regular in all his habits. And let him also see that he does not allow himself to indulge in any evil passions of the mind, as anger, malice, jealousy, envy, revenge, or any inordinate desires; for these are as fatal to health as abuses of the body, and do, in reality, lead to these latter abuses, almost inevitably. In fact, the cause of all the irregularities of youth, are in the mind. Let a young man, then, keep his desires, his appetites, and his passions, under proper subjection — and he will be in no danger of running into those excesses which sow, in his physical system, the seeds of all diseases.
Back to [[Advice to Young Men on Their]