Air

There are a lot of phrases using the word air. When things are uncertain they are "up in the air." One of my favorite songs is the Hollies "The Air That I Breathe." When someone is blustering they are "full of hot air."

Air is something that you normally don't think about. It is just there. You inhale and exhale. It is something that is done automatically. It is invisible and taken for granted.

However the quality of the air we breathe makes a difference in our lives. If the air is polluted it can damage our health. Scientists are studying the effect of pollution on our ozone layer. That is the barrier that keeps us alive and without that barrier between us and space all of Earth would die and everything on it.

I am aware of air because I have C.O.P.D. in the form of severe asthma. There are times when I can not breathe. I always have to have my emergency inhaler with me. The simple act of inhaling and exhaling becomes very difficult when you are in the throes of an asthma attack. It can become quite scary when you can't breathe right.

I am reading about more and more children who are suffering from asthma. When I lived in Denver for a couple of years I was noticing a lot of people who are on oxygen because of the thin air that high up and because they are suffering from C.O.P.D. Many of them developed it because they smoked for years. Mine came not from smoking but because of severe allergies. Sometimes I feel that if you name it I'm probably allergic to it.

What can we do about the air that we breathe? One thing is stop smoking. It is not only bad for you but bad for others breathing second hand smoke. Another is to keep abreast of the scientist's studies on pollution and to support the recommendations to try and clean up our air. I have a brother who works for the Environmental Protection Agency. Let your congressmen know that you want the agency supported in cleaning up our air.

As someone who has been in the throes of a severe asthma attack I can attest that not being able to do something as simple as breathe is very scary. This something we have to do to keep alive deserves the cleanest air we can put into our lungs.

The picture is the latest in the Guardian series and is called "Guardian of the Air."