My wife’s life has been made more complicated than it should be by the simple fact of living in this world. A dermatologist, after examining her forehead, nose, and arms determined with absolute certainty that she can no longer expose herself to the sun, especially on beaches, above all on overcast days because of the risk of skin cancer from the ultraviolet rays.

A similar determination was delivered to a friend of mine by a nutritionist who recommended, in all seriousness, that if he wanted to live a long and healthy life, without getting high cholesterol or acid reflux, he would have to swear off eating meat of any kind (pure poison), cheese and milk (fatal for the gastrointestinal tract), fruits (whose sugar poses a danger), and those miracles of nature avocados and eggplant. The proper diet was macrobiotic, rich in roughage and prohibitions.

The real threat
But the greatest threat to our health and indeed the species itself is not exposure to the sun, or gluttony (or worse yet eating an avocado) nor the affection for (now called addiction to) cigarettes, coffee, or alcohol. The truth is that the great threat was born with us and each of us carries it between our legs: our sex. More than biological necessity or mental or physiological pleasure, sex has been transformed into a risk factor, and must be practised safely and with caution.

And what about travel? Does anyone remember when roaming the globe was an adventure, a unique experience, a joyful process of learning about other cultures, landscapes, and ways of life? Or the days when airplanes were symbols of glamour and stewardesses were always young, pretty, and lovable?

Everyone who buys an airplane ticket becomes not so much a traveller as a presumed terrorist who cannot be allowed to pass through security checks without being examined from head to toe (private parts included) or granted permission to carry so much as a tube of hair gel or a container of cough syrup.

The risks incurred just getting onto the plane and flying are so relentless that we dare board the vessel only because we are either so damaged or stupefied. And once we are actually inside this macabre apparatus, who has the nerve to ask for a glass of water from the tyrannical air hostess who charges even for a smile (“food for purchase” it says on the ever more expensive tickets) and seems ready to eject you from the plane in mid-flight.

With all the warnings that pursue us, so sad and scientifically grounded, it seems more and more astonishing that our species has made it to the present, after millions of years of exposure to the sun, unrestrained eating and drinking (just to satisfy our hunger and thirst), smoking, and indulging in sex (not only for reproduction) and moving between places.

There was even a time not so long ago that we even considered these suicidal – indeed genocidal – acts to be pleasures, like smoking a cigarette in a bar with a glass of wine or a coffee. The oblivion that shrouded life back then (of course AIDS, global warming, and the hole in the ozone layer didn't yet exist), when there were fewer bans and fears, made life more pleasing, if sometimes shorter.

A worry
Today, however, when the entire human race risks vanishing from the earth because of its own stupidity and mistreatment of this wonderful planet that god gave us, many people are worried about living to one hundred in perfect health, limiting if not eliminating pleasures while they burn rivers of fuel and raze forests and, most important, forget that for millions of other people in this world, a piece of bread, a glass of clean water, or even an avocado are not enemies but luxuries that it becomes harder and harder to come by each day.

(The writer a Cuban author and journalist) - IPS