The Story Presented by Billy Mills, Essay Example

Summary

The story presented by Billy Mills demonstrates the struggle with diabetes that many Americans go through on a daily basis. Over time, the prevalence of this illness has increased significantly as a consequence of the increasingly sedentary lifestyle experienced by many Americans. While type 2 diabetes is closely linked to obesity, the disease can also be caused by genetic factors. It is important for the American people to understand the risk factors related to the disease and to put forth an effort to prevent disease occurrence when possible. While athletic individuals like Billy Mills have found ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle while living with this disease, many others are constantly challenged by their need to diet and exercise. It is therefore reasonable to look to Billy Mills as a role model for healthy living with diabetes.

Response

In this video, Billy Mills demonstrates a personal connection that he has had with diabetes, which he utilizes to create a connection with the audience. While many people are aware that diabetes exists and may know someone that has the disease, they may not understand that disease treatment interferes with many aspects of daily living. Therefore, this video helps the audience understand some of the struggle that people with diabetes live through on a daily basis. These individuals must constantly worry about the food they eat, the exercise they are getting, testing their blood sugar, and taking insulin. If they do not accomplish these tasks as needed, they are risking their health. As a consequence, living with diabetes results in a constant struggle in trying to balance normal everyday life with disease treatment.

Intellectually, Billy Mills reminds us of the importance of understanding diabetes in terms of the biology. Because many Americans are eating unhealthier food than their ancestors and living a more sedentary lifestyle, they are at higher risk for developing the disease. Minority populations are at disproportionate risk for getting the disease because they tend to have lower socioeconomic status. As a consequence, they have less access to affordable food, which results in their need to make less healthy decisions because unhealthy foods are more affordable to them. Therefore, the diabetes problem is more prevalent for minority and poor populations, which is an unfortunate issue that has been created by American society. Since there is not adequate support for these populations in need, their health status has become impacted in many ways.

Reflection

My new understanding of this topic causes me to be quickly angered about the status of health in the nation. Many populations have high incidence of diabetes due to no fault of their own. Rather, they become afflicted with this disease because they are unable to purchase healthy foods, and eating foods with sugary content predisposes them for obesity and related illnesses. It is not that the individuals that are more likely to get this disease are lazy, it is simply that they have unequal access to health with regards to the food they eat and free time to exercise. Ultimately, diabetes is evidence of discrimination against the poor and an indicator of the need for social change to support these groups. While many groups attempt to educate these individuals about healthy lifestyle choices, these alterations are often not within their means which indicates that diabetes will continue to be a problem in these populations.