Health fair worth more than just extra credit

I never knew how controlling salt could be.

For the Lenten season this year, I gave up sprinkling salt on food items. Every year I try and give up something that I know will be hard because I do not see a point in giving up something that will be easy to let go.

Many people, Catholic and non-Catholic, ask a valid question during the Lenten season: why give up anything at all?

The main reason a good majority of Catholics do not sacrifice anything for Lent is because they are too lazy, spoiled or greedy. These people are known as "Easter-Christmas" Catholics; the kind who go to mass on Clµistmas and Easter.

The reason I give up things for Lent is because _it teaches me about control and sacrifice. My family is a very devout religious family; unfortunately right now I do not fall under that category. But, because of tradition and what sacrificing still teaches me, I give things up for Lent.

Sacrificing a beloved item, whether it be food, soda, television, a favorite four-letter word or sodium chloride, instills control and an important lesson I have learned from the first time I started giving up things for Lent: it is hard to sacrifice what you love, but someone else is sacrificing something bigger and more difficult. • This year's Lenten sacrifice was especially important because I gave up the thing I love the most and did not cry about it this year because there are people in Iraq this very second fighting for their survival. Giving up taste in macaroni and cheese seems a lot Jess petty, doesn't it?

SHARVON EDITOR

It's amazing that we have useful resources on this campus that most students just don't seem to take advantage of.

For instance, the annual Health Fair held at the Dix.on Center. I had an experience at one of these fairs that has forever changed my overall health.

Freshman year, I took a nutrition course in which we were offered extra credit if we attended the Health Fair and reported on one of the booths we visited.

I was too impatient to wait in line for a massage, so I decided to stop bY.the chiropractic table and have my back examined since I had been experiencing back pains for quite some time, but failed to see a physician for it.

The visiting chiropractor took one look at my "pain check list" and said "You've got quite a lot of problems for someone who is only 19. Maybe we should schedule an appointment in the office for a more thorough exam."

Instantaneously, my first thought was "These people are scamming me so I will spend money on their services," However. I did take his comments into consideration and scheduled an appointment with a chiropractor in my neighborhood.

Upon examination of my xrays, it was discovered that I had vertebral subluxations. In Laymen's terms - my spine was twisted. Need a visual? Talce a strip of paper and twist it. 'fhat was my spine!

Then came the question of ·•How did this happen?"

Considering my accident-prone childhood, many factors could have contributed to my injury.

But which incident would be most logically matched with this injury? Then it hit me. Gymnastics! Of course I would be the only one in my seventhgrade gym class to get hurt during a back-walk-over gone awry, and like most junior high schools, the school nurse just gave me some ice and a Tylenol and sent me on my way, which became my personal solution for the pain from that point forward.

So there you have it. Due to the Health Fair, I because aware of an injury that I had been suffering from for more than five years, which could have led to even more serious problem if it had continued to go untreated. You never know what may be afflicting you, so drop by the Health Fair today. Amazing things could happen.

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