BROOKLYN-USA.ORG MESSAGE FROM BOROUGH PRESIDENT ADAMS 3 A message from Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams Webster’s dictionary defines suicide as “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally.” According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 42,000 Americans take their lives each year. However, based on the aforementioned definition, I would su ggest this statistic doesn’t cover the full magnitude of those facing this most critical crisis on the edge of life and death. When we think of the tragedies that surround suicide, we think of terrible scenarios such as a person jumping off a tall structure, taking a bottle of sleeping pills, or using some sort of a weapon. That was my conception as well, until I read Dr. Michael Greger’s book, “How Not to Die.” It forced me to re-examine my thoughts around suicide, as well as about the healing needed to come back from the brink. In the book, Dr. Greger looked at the 15 leading causes of death in America and used current research to show us how not to die from them. All of these conditions — a list including heart disease, high blood pressure, and multiple forms of cancer — had one thing in common: diet. He points out that, for the most part, we don’t get diseases because we get older. We get diseases mainly because of what we eat. Americans are all dying from similar illnesses because we are all eating similar foods. These are choices that are in our control. Dr. Kim Williams, past president of the American College of Cardiology, put it even more bluntly than that: “I don’t mind dying; I just don’t want it to be my fault.” It’s challenging for me to write on this topic because, having responded to attempted suicides as a police officer, I know how painful and personal this discussion is for so many of us. It has always been my goal to turn pain into purpose, for others as well as myself. What I learned in my recent battle with Type 2 diabetes is how daily choices I was making were slowly killing me. I can’t stand to see any of my friends or neighbors suffering in this or any other way. The goal is not to try to avoid the inevitability of death — just not to cause it with our own hands. When we actively choose to defy the counsel of our families, friends, and health care professionals to stop putting things that harm us into our bodies, we are traveling down a dark path that can prematurely claim our lives. Smoking a cigarette while suffering from a lung disease is suicidal. Consuming large quantities of sugary drinks while being diabetic is suicidal. Maintaining a high salt diet while having high blood pressure is suicidal. The fact is that far too many Brooklynites — including many reading this very message — are knowingly practicing behaviors that are leading to damaging outcomes for themselves and their loved ones. For me, at a time when I was on the physical edge of life and death, “How Not to Die” was a tipping point toward healthy living. It was the book that saved my life, and its difficult message about the choices we make is one I want to continue passing forward. As Brooklyn borough president, it is my goal to lead a transformative — and possibly uncomfortable — conversation around preventative health affecting our bodies, minds, and souls. We cannot continue to have a health care system that treats symptoms and not the root causes of diseases. We cannot continue to fuel our children in schools with food that negatively impacts their health later in life. We cannot continue to lack access to fresh fruits and vegetables, both sold in our stores and grown from our soil, in our neighborhoods. We cannot continue to suffer in silence while our communities are there to support our healing. Multiple reports have shown the possibility that our children may well be the first generation to have a shorter life span than their parents. We cannot continue down that dark path. We must raise healthy children and families. Anything else is suicidal. Photo Credit: Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP’s Office Focused on healthy lifestyle choices, Borough President Adams shopped for fresh produce at the Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket in Downtown Brooklyn.
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