As we move into June and roughly month three of our stay-at-home order, I can’t help but think about how grateful I am to see so many of you coming back to the office!
You are all truly fueling all of us at Future Generations. The ability to serve you and our amazing community of San Diego is something we all take to heart everyday.
I’ve stated from the beginning that my deepest hope is we all become more CONNECTED throughout this process.
Connected to ourselves, our family and friends, and to each other.
I’ve tried my best to stay present on social media. Many of you have joined our private facebook group where we have been sharing a variety of useful information outside of the mainstream media…
The key to coming out of all of this with a more empowered NEW NORMAL is gaining new skill sets (things you can DO) and mindsets (ways to THINK).
I will say, as a family, Victoria, Alana and I have amazing new routines. We walk A LOT. We have walked through the UCSD campus and it’s been such an amazing new habit we have implemented.
Alana is 100% committed to eating sand on the beach. Her poop this AM did not have sand, so who knows where it all went!
I would be remiss if I did not mention I have a deep concern for what the fall out of the lockdown will be.
So many family members are asking me, “What will the new normal look like?”.
To be completely honest and transparent, I hope it’s not like it was before– which is why I have been imploring you to make good, healthy changes. Our collective mindsets and skillsets got us to where we are today. And I truly hope it’s not identically matching what the CDC recommends especially for schools.
One of my family members is a medical doctor and her parents are both early childhood development specialists who specifically train schools in creating child-centered outdoor classrooms. She is outraged at the above recommendations with many media outlets stating we should simply “reimagine — or abandon — of long-held traditions and goals of the American school day, where play time, socialization and hands-on support have long been essential to the learning equation”.
I would take this statement further and say these values are at the core of the human experience and abandoning them will have major consequences which will span every aspect of child development.
As Memorial Day has come and gone (and right after it, my 20 year anniversary of graduating from West Point), some of these recommendations seem to be more vigilant than my plebe year at West Point.
Because of this, Memorial Day sat with me differently this year.
It was the first year I spent such a day with my daughter.
I want her to know what the flag means. I want her to know that the Freedom as we all know it, isn’t free by any means.
We went to the Miramar National Cemetery to pay our respects to those who have given their lives in the name of American values. And I was left with this feeling I couldn’t shake…
Saying “Happy” Memorial Day simply reinforces the fact that most Americans think this holiday is simply for days off and barbecues.
The fact that a third of our practice is military, it’s only appropriate to honor them, not just for their service, but also for serving alongside those who have given their lives for the freedoms we all enjoy today.
All gave some. Some gave all.
When I was 17, I was inspired to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. To be completely honest, I don’t think I quite understood the gravity of that decision at such a young age. With every day that passes, I am able to see it more clearly. It was meant for me and I was trained to be a “leader of character” by one of the greatest institutions on the planet.
Admittedly, there was a lot of external pressure from my family for me to attend and stay when I had great moments of doubt. Much of that pressure coming from my grandfather – my dad‘s dad.
When he explained to me his story, aka The Hom story, it resonated deeply with me and still echoes in my soul today. You see, my grandfather, his older brother, and their father all emigrated to the USA from communist China with my grandfather’s brother-in-law and father-in-law.
Just barely over 18, he decided to serve in the US Army Air Corps as a medic. What most people don’t know is my family emigrated to this country in order to flee from the oppression and atrocities in China during a time where the Chinese Exclusionary Act was alive and well in America. He chose to put himself in harm’s way in support of our great country.
WHY?
Why enlist his services in World War II despite the inherent, societal discriminations in the US against him and other Chinese people?
The answer?
The American dream, even with inherent racist laws, is far better than the atrocities of communist China.
My great grandparents on my dad’s side are buried in a Chinese cemetery off the 710 and the 60 Freeways in LA. Most people aren’t aware (I know I wasn’t growing up) that this cemetery exists because Chinese were not allowed to be buried alongside Americans of other races.
My Auntie Bev gave me a book titled Duty and Honor: a Tribute to Chinese American World War II Veterans of Southern as I was graduating from West Point. It highlighted how the Chinese-Americans who served in the US Armed Forces along with the American Legion was a fundamental reason the Chinese Exclusionary Act ended after World War II.
We all need to be reminded of that. I know I need regular reminders.
This Freedom we all have today isn’t free, in any capacity.
Not for my family, not for yours, so long as you live here in America or are an American citizen. And a promise I made to Alana this weekend was I would never let her forget that.
Have you ever thought about that? Isn’t it amazing that there exists a group of people in our country literally willing to die for the rest of us to preserve such a simple value? I’d venture to bet there isn’t a veteran who still would. I know I would.
We lost four men in my unit while I was deployed in Iraq.
Rest in Peace
SSG Steven W. White
SPC Richard Arriaga
SGT Anthony O. Thompson
SPC James C. Wright
And since 9/11 we have lost nine of my West Point classmates. Many of whom I shared classes with, played intramural sports with and simply just respected and enjoyed.
I don’t expect this blog to inspire you to serve in our military. I don’t blame those who don’t, but I do implore you to recognize these men and women who wake up each day, put on their uniform, and in many cases, deploy (and die) overseas to defend our nation’s values.
This is something to honor and be thankful for.
One quick story about Iraq as it relates to our situation today with the COVID-19 lockdown.
When we first got to Ad Dawr, Iraq, we were situated on the east side of the Tigris River about 25 km south of Tikrit and about 35km north of Samarra. We initially set up checkpoints to control entry and exit from the city.
One thing we noticed right away was an immediate demand for ‘passes’. Never truly understanding the gravity of the oppression Saddam Hussein had placed over the people of Iraq, we shortly realized these people could not leave their own cities without written authorization from the Ba’ath Party – Saddam’s ruling socialist party in Iraq.
Today, we are seeing continuing vigilance restricting our own personal freedoms.
- Some counties in California have already trained, hired, and deployed contract tracers to come to our homes, test us for COVID-19, and potentially mandate self-quarantine and removal of family members while kids remain in foster care.
- The CDC released guidelines about the reopening of schools that eerily remind me of my plebe (first) year at West Point.
- Continual and mandated mask usage that authorities have clearly determined do not work against COVID-19 and are completely unsafe for children who cannot properly adjust their breathing as they recycle carbon dioxide.
- And a future where we will NEVER touch another human being outside of our household.
- More details included in this blog post by one of my mentors: Dr. Kelly Brogan titled: Why We Stay Asleep While COVID-19 is Trying to WAKE US UP
As I close, the only data point that matters at this stage is: death rate.
Which the CDC has clearly determined is 00.26% of those who actually get infected from COVID-19. What we know at this stage is that according to ‘Pandemic Math’, this number is only going to plummet as time goes on.
It’s very simple math. As time goes on, we will realize the true number of cases that exist, the real denominator. The number of deaths, without an equivalent rise in magnitude, will lower the mortality rate. In an ideal world, this would significantly decrease the level of fear we feel AND the vigilance around protecting us from COVID-19.
So where does this leave us?
I had to add this last part because, on this Memorial Day, I felt a deep sense of inspiration for the many men and women who have died in the name of freedom.
I have been committed for 11 years now to the educating of my patients on the subject of Health Freedom.
Body sovereignty is the FIRST freedom.
Knowing you have sovereignty over the choices you make for your own health and that of your children is fundamental to a free society. I am committed to teaching you, over the course of this month, all the ways that you can exercise that. Because our new normal here at Future Generations will not mirror what our media or the CDC expects of you.
Too many of you have shared how our office has been a safe haven for you when the world has been steeped in chaos and hysteria. If you have not made it back yet, no worries at all, we send you love and support from afar.
Knowing how deadly COVID-19 is NOT for the grand majority of us in spite of what the mainstream media wants you to believe, it is time we bring a fuller expression of respect, love and joy to the world.