Posted:
Here is one of my A papers that I wrote as a Sophomore at Staples High School. I left it unchanged. Since writing it, however, I've learned a lot more about heart disease: How it kills (excerpt) and how to prevent and even cure it (full). I highly recommend Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn. He is one of the masters of nutrition & heart disease: http://www.heartattackproof.com/
I also highly recommend The China Study as one of the bests books on nutrition, especially for curing and preventing America's three leading killers: cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; as well as obesity, macular degeneration, MS, strokes, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, and many more.
Here's the paper. I may have left out some of the formatting in copying it over. (TODO: add formatting)
Matthew Di Pasquale
Mrs. Richardson
English 2A-4
November 13, 2000
In the poem above, the writer presents to us a situation, a blown fuse, and then tells us what is not a sufficient course of action to take. What, then, would be “sufficient,” if not a replacement, when a fuse has blown? The word “sufficient” suggests a meeting of a need: by using that word, the author implies that some need is still unfulfilled if the blown fuse is only replaced. What, then, is the need, or problem, that another fuse would not be able to solve? First, I analyze the poem on a literal level, to elucidate its implications. Then, I show that these implications are valid not only on a literal level, to fuses, but also figuratively, to problems in everyday life.
A fuse is a part of an electrical circuit that melts and breaks the circuit if the electrical current becomes dangerously strong. Since a dangerously strong current causes a fuse to blow, to just replace a blown fuse with a new one is not sufficient to fix the broken circuit. One must also reduce the strength of the current to allow it to pass through the new fuse without melting it. Otherwise, the current will blow the new fuse, which will again break the circuit. Therefore, only replacing a blown fuse with a new one will not solve the problem that the circuit had to begin with, too strong of a current. The message the author is conveying is that if a blown fuse breaks a circuit, then to fix the circuit, one must not only replace the blown fuse but also eliminate the causes of the blown fuse.
My father’s atherosclerosis was a problem in life that reflects the metaphoric meaning of the poem. He died on July 28, 1994 of a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis, the thickening and hardening of the arteries. Just as a fuse blows when the current is too strong, my father’s heart stopped when the amount of oxygen to his heart was too low. Since a dangerously low amount of oxygen going to his heart caused it to stop, to have replaced his stopped heart with a new one would not have been sufficient to keep him alive. The doctors would have also had to increase the amount of oxygen going to his heart by eliminating his atherosclerosis, allowing his heart to keep pumping. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to increase the amount of oxygen entering my dad’s heart, and he died. My father’s heart was like the fuse in this poem; to simply replace it would not have been sufficient.
By looking closely at the literal meaning of this poem, I was able to determine its implicit meaning. The poem is not only accurate in terms of fuses, however, but also in general. Just as one should lower the circuit’s current when a fuse blows, one should eliminate the cause of a problem, not a symptom.
With what I now know about heart disease, I propose a revised analogy:
To understand this new explanation, please watch how a heart attack happens (See the link to the video at the top of this article.). Atherosclerosis is when plaque deposits build up underneath the endothelium (a thin layer of cells that line the inside of the arteries). When the endothelium ruptures, the released plaque acts as a clotting factor. Immediately, heart muscle down-stream is deprived of blood and begins to die. The clot is like the blown fuse. And similarly, merely putting a stint inside the artery or replacing the artery with a bypass (as is done in the popular bypass surgery) is insufficient. The problem is actually the heightened acidity level of the blood. To protect the arteries from this acidic blood, plaque builds up underneath the endothelium. And poor eating habits, such as the typical American diet, cause acidic blood. Other lifestyle factors, such as stress & sleep deprivation increase blood acidity. Read The PH Miracle.
So, the main problem & solution (factor) is nutrition. Eat healthy; live healthy. Sleep is also very important. Sleep consistently at sundown & rise at sunup. Circadian rhythm and REM sleep.
"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." - Ben Franklin
"Nature to be commanded must be obeyed." - Francis Bacon