One for All and All for One

Remember the wonderful Indian folk story of the five blind men and the elephant? Each one thought that the part of the elephant he was touching (the side, ear, tail, tusk, and trunk) correctly represented the whole elephant...until they were brought together by the local wise man that helped them realize that each had touched only a part of the body of the animal and thus only had a partial view of it. When, under the guidance of the man who had actually seen the elephant, they put their partial views together, they were able to “see” what an elephant looked like. As I see it, different health education constituencies have hold of the health education elephant by different parts. The time has come, I believe, for leaders with a broad, professionwide vision to help pull together the individual perspectives and perceptions so we can promote a clear, comprehensive, accurate, and united picture of the health education elephant.