A New Health Education Paradigm: Uncommon Thoughts about Common Matters

Abstract

Since being notified of this award, I have experienced a glimpse of what it’s like to be well-known or, as one might say, “famous.” There has been constant pounding on my door, banging on the windows, clawing at the doorknob, and blood-curdling screams. This constant pounding, clawing, and screaming has come at all hours of the day and night; it became so severe that last night, I simply could not take it anymore...so I got up and let them out. Seriously, before initiating my address, I wish to briefly and chronologically acknowledge unique individuals who are responsible for the path my life has taken, and for their contributions to my receiving the AAHE (American Association for Health Education) Scholar Award. First, my greatest overall influence was the local south Texas neighborhood grocer who happened to take a liking to me. He built me a shoebox and taught me at age six to walk the streets to earn money. That is when I first realized that work was associated with positive outcomes and that hard work transformed dreams into reality. He actually “connected the dots” for me to realize that work, resolve, dreams, rewards, the future, and possibly accolades were interconnected at a higher level. Born the first child of a large, lowermiddle-class racially mixed dysfunctional family, there was never adequate or quality parenting; so, throughout my public school years, I consciously selected teachers as surrogate parents. As I progressed through school, I would replace substitute parents by simply selecting new ones. Many wonderful teachers throughout my public school days came to my emotional rescue. They revealed to me the possibilities the world had to offer and gave me the most precious gift of all—hope. They made it clear that the road to success was paved with commitment and passion, so if I were willing to work hard, that one day I could move out of the neighborhood. These dedicated teachers unknowingly saved me from a life of crime, violence, substance abuse, and possibly early mortality. My greatest professional influence was Donald Merki, a not-so-well-known Texas Woman’s University professor. He encouraged individuality and one’s ability to view life from different perspectives. He suggested that life was an ongoing exploration, very fluid and always changing, and that to be successful I needed to change with it. He was a great teacher, but true to his own aspirations, he suddenly traded a secure university position for a job as a tennis pro in Santa Fe. My research accomplishments can be traced directly to Gerald Landwer, my departmental chair and an exercise physiologist at Texas Christian University, an academic maverick who never felt threatened by being the lone dissenting academic voice. Possessing a strong sense of justice, he always sided with the truth. He taught me the value of research and that the future for both the individual and health education lay in one’s ability to produce quality research. As a researcher, I had dreamed of this moment—delivering an AAHE Scholar address before one’s peers at the national convention—a dream come true. Although I set my sights on the scholar award early in my career, I had come to believe it would never