Health is the new wealth. That is the new term used by many of my forward-thinking friends. We are now in the age bracket where you are attending more funerals and homegoing’s than weddings. It is the age at which you can feel comfortable knowing that if you took good care of yourself in your 20s, 30s, and 40s, your later days should be relatively illness-free. It is a time in your life that you should begin to experience some of the fruits of your labor.

Your children are of age to solidly take care of themselves, and if you are fortunate, you have grandchildren that you can spoil. In America, this can be considered your “finest years” where life should be much easier. And, if you position yourself well and save for retirement, your life can be pretty good.

But is that all there is to a good life in America? I see so many people focus only on themselves without glancing out the window at our neighbor’s house. I would even venture to say that most of us take for granted that we have clean and safe neighborhoods to walk around in. When was the last time that you took a walk down the street? If you did, were you proud of what you saw?

Some of us do not live in the neighborhoods in which we work. Some of us must drive out of our neighborhoods into the city for work. How much do we know about the state of your city and its neighborhoods? The only reference that some of us know about our cities is from the local news…violence, death, and blithe.

When are we going to be “Our brother’s keeper?” What will it take to realize that everyone deserves a clean, safe neighborhood for our children to play and for our seniors to take neighborhood strolls? When are we going to address the health inequities that lie just blocks from where we live and work?

In my city of Columbus, Ohio, our local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, ran an article titled “What’s been done to combat racism as a public health crisis in Columbus?” It was a compelling piece about how racism can affect all aspects of people’s lives, including access to safe and affordable housing, employment and financial security, education, incarceration, and health and mental health.

The CEO of the Columbus Urban League stated “These racial disparities can contribute to barriers to accessing health care, including lack of transportation, insurance or finances.” The governor of Ohio even stated that racism is a public health crisis. Everyone knows of the problems of race and the health gap in our city. What we need is people on the streets talking to their neighbors.

Healthy Policy Institute of Ohio publishes its Health Value Dashboard, which collects more than 100 metrics of health and compares Ohio’s data to other states. This report showed that 27% of African Americans, 19% of Hispanic Ohioans, and 21% of Asian Americans and Indigenous Ohioans experienced physical or emotional symptoms due to treatment based on their race compared to 4% of white Ohioans.

This is going on in Ohio, a mid-western state. The Healthy Policy Institute of Ohio reported that the policies, practices, and beliefs rooted in racism can cause trauma and stress for people of color, which can lead to health issues such as high blood pressure, stroke, depression, or early death. Structural racism, which has existed in our country for hundreds of years, will take time to unravel, even in Ohio.

When addressing racism from a public health standpoint, the first step is to acknowledge the problem and seek educational resources on the topic. We need to address the systemic problem of racism and our fears of the zero-sum game. We need to be our neighbor’s keeper. We need to put our cell phones down, lace up our shoes, and take a walk around our neighborhoods.

And if we live in affluent neighborhoods, this is our opportunity to adopt another neighborhood that is not as affluent. In our places of employment, we need to work within the surrounding communities to help hire, promote, and educate those less fortunate than ourselves. Conversations need to be had, and action needs to be taken.

We must challenge our local politicians to join us in creating health equity in our neighborhoods. We must practice LOVE and everything it can bring to our lives.

An Infinity circle looks like a horizontal 8 but represents more than 8. Infinity is a concept that represents something boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. Infinity is something without end. I see it as the love that God has for us and the love He wants us to share with others.