I had a conversation recently with my granddaughter who is 10. She asked about what I do and in the process of explaining public health to her I mentioned that we are non-partisan. She asked, “What does that mean?” I explained that it means we do not support a specific political party but, rather, policies that will benefit health and communities. She thought about that and then said, “Well, Republicans are an elephant and Democrats are a donkey. What animal is public health?” After a pause she added, “Maybe a turtle?” because she knows turtles are very special to me.
I like that. Turtles are very close to the earth—public health must be close to the earth and the peoples we serve. Turtles have a hard shell that protects them from the attacks of many predators. We must develop the hard resilience to keep on keeping on in the face of some much (often vicious) opposition. Many species of turtles are endangered—one only needs to look at the most recent numbers of people leaving public health to relate to that! And turtles only make progress when they stick their necks out—we’ve got to have the courage to stick our necks out and loudly proclaim what science and experience have taught us about how to build and sustain healthy places for people to live, work, and play.
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