In Eight Steps to Happiness Geshe-la says "'Self' and 'other' are relative terms, rather like 'this mountain' and 'that mountain ... 'This' and 'that' therefore depend upon our point of reference. This is also true of self and other. By climbing down the mountain of self, it is possible to ascend the mountain of other, and thereby cherish others as much as we presently cherish ourself."

Friday, February 11, 2011

Excess Death

from Dr. Pullen http://drpullen.com/excessdeath/
"Excess death or excess mortality is defined as by the Free Medical Dictionary is 'a premature death, or one that occurs before the average life expectancy for a person of a particular demographic category.'  Smoking is one of the major causes of excess death.  There is lots of debate about smokers rights, government intrusion into private lives, and reduction of government spending these days.  Here are some thoughts on government backed efforts to encourage and help citizens quit smoking.  This is on my mind today because  my [Dr. Pullen's] Mom died this week of a smoking related illness, throat cancer, and I was looking for any good news about smoking cessation programs or population based success stories. 
...

"If the entire US replicated this program, and had smoking cessation rates that match those in MI then by extrapolation we could add about 122 million years to the lives of Americans over a 10 year period if 6% less Americans smoked after the program.
When I think if the dollars spent to add a year of life by many medical interventions, this type of program seems like it would be a bargain. ..."

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