Al Gore's tobacco road

Human Life Review, Fall 1997 by Murchison, William

The ticket-the political ticket, that is-is assimilating this fact of nature while showing how needless were particular physical hardships and infirmities. "It didn't have to happen"-the eternal cry of victimhoodgives resonance to the purely political proposition that "Because it happened, we have to do something."

We do try to Do Something. All the time we try. Something is always going on in the relief-of-pain department, the lengthening-of-life venue. Just how much, I got to wondering one day in early September. I scrolled the national newswires to find out. Here is what I discovered.

The federal government was calling for better health programs on college campuses. The government had surveyed 4,609 students at 136 universities. The tidings were doleful: 27 percent said they drove after drinking, 31 percent smoked regularly, and nearly half had tried marijuana. Less than a third reported using a condom during their most recent sexual exploit. In light of such data, university health centers, it was suggested, need to Do Something.

Then we got into smoking. "Passive Smoke," said the headline, "Tied to Decline of 'good' Cholesterol." The point: Exposure to passive smoke at home lowers "good" HDL cholesterol-the kind that helps you fend off heart attacks-by up to ten percent. The researchers had reached this conclusion after surveying 103 children, ages two to 18, with elevated cholesterol. We needed to Do Something.

Kids were far from the only victims of thoughtless family members. In Chicago, a retired Army colonel was suing his wife of 43 years under the federal Clean Air Act, asking that her cigarette smoke be declared a cancer-causing pollutant. His lawyer explained: "He feels that not only is she killing herself, but she is killing him." (And how were these incivilities affecting the marriage? "They get along except for this," replied the lawyer. "I don't think she cooks for him any more, probably just cold soup.") Well. Here at least was a guy who was Doing Something.

Illegal drugs drew attention in California. U.S. anti-drug "Czar" Barry McCaffrey, in San Diego, forecast overhaul of the process whereby Washington reviews and certifies the drug-impeding efforts of Mexico and other drug-producing countries. In Los Angeles, a city councilman was charged with one felony count of cocaine possession.

There was more, but you get the idea. Oh, what good boys are we-and good girls, as well. How energetic in the defense of life and health! With that one exception-which turns out to be an exception so large you could drive an 18-wheeler through it without sacrificing a fleck of paint. What are we doing about unborn life? Every story on the news directory, the day I scrolled it, dealt with born life exclusively. True enough, from time to time abortion is news, often big news, but not this day. Health was news; life, in its essence, wasn't.

The Preservation of Life as the 20th century breathes its last, turns out to be a part-time mission, dictated by the perceived necessities of existence. As long as we're here, let's make the most of it. On the other hand, if we're not here yet-or we're failing for one reason or another to make the most of things-well, that's different. The modern age's distinctions about life are fussy and exasperating. Not to say deadly.