HW 18 - Health & Illness & Feasting

       My family does not celebrate Thanksgiving and so attempting to elaborate on the anti-body and body-centered practices of this holiday would be ultimately futile.  However, physicality plays into my life willingly whether it pertains to a holiday or just a regular day.  As we are the generation of technology, we have started to depend on phones and computers to communicate, a task performable by the simple vibrations of a human's voice box.  Entering this anti-body world, we've become less comfortable with our bodies.
       My sister, an avid member of this world, cannot accept the fact that she is addicted to texting though my mild accusations make a weak attempt to convince her otherwise.  When I try to get my sister's attention by calling her name, she ignores me and shoos me away claiming she "couldn't hear" me.  Yet, when the sound of her vibrating phone reaches her ears, she springs, without hesitating, to her phone to check her new text messages.  My sister argues she enjoys the effortlessness of texting and would rather not have to go through the trouble of making plans just to talk.  This lack of movement that my sister prefers is present in the event of dying and so I wonder, why, as human beings capable of several abilities, do we attempt to come close to death by discarding our abilities using "simplistic" technologies and fear death at the same time?
       In the event of death, people begin to reconnect with their bodies realizing its significance.  When sickness comes into play, one's well-being is at risk and neither anti-body or body-centered practices can be carried out.  Having been at the hospital only a small number of times, I have seen people embrace their loved ones stretched out onto beige colored beds, gently stroking the loved one's arm.  Though they could have just texted, "I love you.  I hope you get well" but, instead chose to do otherwise offers me a theory:  when something influential, in this case detrimental, occurs, one is willing to abandon their once beloved modern world of phones even if its only for a day.  A harsh and a bit sad statement to make but, true nonetheless.  The heat emanating from a human hand is considerably more comforting than the cold touch of a plastic cellphone.  The comforting hand a family member offers to his or hers loved one is a sign of a body-centered practice.  In conclusion, we subconsciously accept all the practices involving physicality.