At a rate of 67,000 miles per hour, celestial sojourners are we. For eons together preceded by our ancestors, and those who preceded them. We balance each millisecond between the depths of a hopeless annihilation of a plunge into the Sun’s vacuum of gravity to be perilously vaporized in the 10,000 degrees surface, whose heat causes hydrogen atoms to break into helium, fueled by its 10-million-degree Fahrenheit nuclear fusion core. The other fate we have eluded through our time is to be hurled to the outer darkness of deep space by the momentum of the sheer velocity of this expansive blue sphere we call Earth.

Something holds us in the perfect Goldilocks perch of the heavens, assuring that we are not too hot and not too cold, but able to sustain life. A circle, though not perfectly round, remains unbroken. What is it that harnesses the tensile strength and compression strength to keep God’s miracle wrapped in blue traveling around the sun with more precision than the finest watch? It is Earth’s elliptical Orbit.” The Orbit exists perpetually and unbroken.

The strength of a circle is captured in its intrinsic capacity for the eternal and the never-ending.

A rising tide lifts all boats

John F. Kennedy

Scripture reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “and I know God has made everything beautiful for its time. God has also placed in our minds a sense of eternity; we look back on the past and ponder over the future, yet we cannot understand the doings of God.”

Mitochondrial DNA

We are all connected through mitochondrial DNA. This is a maternal DNA connection that all modern humanity shares with an ancient mother and with one another. Scientists call her mitochondrial Eve. As a Christian believer, and for the purposes of this article, I will simply refer to her as Eve. Mitochondrial DNA, the circle of human life on earth continues, unbroken. Throughout each cell of our bodies, the Mitochondria are regarded as the energy center of the cell, the timekeeper, and a significant influence on the cell’s lifespan. More on the Mitochondria later on in this article.

The Circle

Further evidence of our braided interconnectedness with one another is seen in the indigenous concept of a circle. “In a circle, we are all equal, No one in front of you, No one behind you, No one above you and No one below you.” Dawn Iehstoseranon: nha (she keeps the feathers) kanien ‘ kenha:ka (the Mohawk Language)

Three-Fifths Contributor Lynette Grey Bull, in her 2024 article entitled “Where Faith Meets Native Tradition: A Vision Quest for Healing in the Sacred Circle, ” which expounds on Lakota tradition, left us with these thoughts about the circle. “There is healing in our circles, a gathering that promotes togetherness, just as our traditional homes—the tipis—were constructed in circles to offer protection and center us with the Creator. Our sweat lodges, too, are sacred spaces we sing ancestral songs, invoking spiritual healing and community solidarity.”

With all this positive inertia surrounding our connectivity. Why do we still have health disparities stratified along lines from zip codes, which are often defined by your income level, or ethnic borderlines that have been generationally and historically redlined, your ancestral background, to the color of your skin, therefore, leaving a break in the circle? The simple answer would be terms such as racism, prejudice, bias, and oppression, etc. Any or all of these factors may contribute to the reason.

Those explanations are rendered powerless when the circle is empowered by the sharing of our stories, i.e., sharing circles. Sharing knowledge, experiences, and combining them with education and the expertise of professionals dedicated to health equity. In scripture, a principle is introduced.

Hosea 4:6 says, “for the lack of knowledge my people perish,”

Although this verse centers on the knowledge of the Creator, a similar concept exists in the business, scientific, and healthcare arenas, all of which share inescapable parallels. They include some who reject scientific evidence and distrust academic or professionally qualified opinions. They even disparage personal experiences, causing them to be dismissed as personal hang-ups or cast as complaints or attempts to disrupt the status quo, often because the individuals are perceived as having an ulterior motive or an agenda.

The Annual Health and Wellness Edition

Three-Fifths Magazine is pushing back against this negativity with the medicinal urgings of the sharing circles, which expand the conversation on health equity inclusively. Our stories, personal experiences, expert research, and bridge-building opinions work together to close the gap in the health equity circle. The Annual Health and Wellness Edition is designed to expand our minds to the possibilities of a healthier America, one with lower Insurance premiums, not by a signature in Washington, but by all Americans being healthier. Therefore, the healthcare system would not be overstressed.  The old saying goes, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Americans in the middle would begin to understand that if we bring Americans off the Margins, everyone benefits, and we start to resemble a circle that is unbroken by filling in the financial gap.

Yes, we at Three-Fifths Magazine believe that health is just as much a right as the air you breathe, and not merely a privilege to be enjoyed by only those of financial means.

“My beloved friend, I pray that everything is going well for you and that your body is as healthy as your soul is prosperous,” 3 John 2 -The Voice

Mitochondria

“While researchers continue to learn how mitochondria affect health, there are simple ways to keep these cellular powerhouses healthy. “Exercise is a big one,” Glancy says. “And it doesn’t have to be ‘exercise’ per se. It could be working in your garden. It could be walking around your neighborhood. Just move your body.” From an article entitled Mitochondria and Health. From NIH National Institutes of Health. My wife of many years made me aware of the following. If you are in an area with limited green spaces and/or safe places to walk, run, or participate in other activities. YouTube video has some outstanding free sources for you to get you exercising in small spaces.

Self Care

Often, it comes down to the basics: eating healthily and exercising. That is not to take anything away from some of these more ethnically weighted diseases that fall upon some groups more heavily than others, such as the African American maternal mortality rate. As we ask questions in the 21st century of why Serina Williams, a woman in the kind of athletic condition she is in, can nearly die in maternity? That is where we must throw the full weight of our education, research, and sharing of stories until we find the answers. There is something in the equation and a break in the circle of which we must return to the state of unbrokenness. The break eliminates the stereotype that most African Americans live in underserved lower-income areas of our society, offering a simple solution to the complex problem. There are no simple answers, they are comprehensive. Remember, even people of means and members of the current majority culture. “A rising tide lifts all boats“ and maybe the next convenings of sharing circles could be the ones that solve your family or personal health dilemmas.