WOULD YOU RATHER: Do you value your health?

Kajamba Fitz-Henley/Youthlink Writer

Our health should always be our top priority. However, we tend to put our health at risk a lot more than we even realise. Here are a few situations to make you consider to what extent you really value your health.

Your school is having an in-school concert featuring your favourite artiste. Seeing that you’ve already signed up to be an usher and work backstage, it is guaranteed that you will be able to meet the artiste. However, you remember that you have a follow-up appointment to check if your recently broken arm is healing properly (the doctor said it was possible that it might not) and whether or not the cast can be taken off. If don’t go on the day for which your visit is scheduled, you will have to wait another month and a half to check your arm – you can’t use another doctor, as your parents insist that the scheduled doctor is the only one they trust in the area.

WOULD YOU RATHER:

• Meet your favourite artiste and delay the appointment? (10%)
• Ensure that your arm is okay and miss the chance to meet your favourite artiste? (90%)

• “Well, my favourite artiste is Celine Dion, so if they got her, then yes, I’d delay the appointment (LOL).”
– Adrianna, 19
• “The sensible thing is obviously to go to the appointment.”
– Jerome, 17

Everyone in your family is allergic to shellfish. Whenever a family member eats it, he or she immediately develops hives and sometimes has to go to the hospital. You’ve never tried it, so you don’t know if you are also allergic. However, you’ve been on a school trip for the entire day, having had nothing to eat. The final stop on the trip is at a seafood restaurant. You expected to be able to get fish; however, the hostess informs you that it is the restaurant’s special ‘shellfish only’ day. You are extremely hungry and the bus driver does not plan to make anymore stops at such a late hour. You are also aware that there won’t be any food cooked when you get home in approximately three hours.

WOULD YOU RATHER:

• Eat something from the restaurant menu and risk an allergic reaction? (50%)
• Wait until the following day to eat even though you haven’t eaten all day? (50%)

• “If my belly says yes, then I’d have to trust it.”
– Khadiann, 16
• “Those odds seem a little sticky. Waiting ‘til I get home seems safer, or asking somebody else if they have any other food.”
– Melissa, 18

You have volunteered at a nursing home during the summer. While you are there, one of the patients, an 84-year-old woman, takes a liking to you. She invites you to the home to be a part of her birthday celebration. You tell her that you aren’t sure that you can make it, but you assure her that you will try. On the day of the celebration, upon arrival, one of the nurses tells you that you might want to be cautious as many of the elderly patients are sick with the flu. This alarms you, as you have exams beginning in two days and you always do badly on exams if you sit them while you are sick. You consider not entering the celebration at all and telling the old woman that you weren’t able to make it after all.

WOULD YOU RATHER:

• Attend the celebration and risk getting sick? (60%)
• Leave the home and tell the old lady that you couldn’t make it? (40%)

• “Oh my, I couldn’t do that to an old lady. Maybe I’d ask the nurse for a mask or something and at least go in to see her; I’d have to show her that I made the effort to come.”
– Keli, 19
• “I’d feel bad, but health and exams usually come before other stuff for me.”
–Tyana, 18

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