She wasn’t alone, though, because many of her generation, early to mid-20th Century, bore a deep understanding of what it really meant to be healthy. Sadly, they lived during times when medicine was changing from the old-fashioned holistic approach to the modern beliefs about drugs, surgery, and radiation, thank you, American Medical Association (AMA), third-party payers, drug-makers, and our government. Mom experienced the changing of the food supply and the beginning of an era where chemicals and processing delivered products with long shelf lives that masquerade as food. Still, the rudiments of healthy living persisted, though they were quickly being eroded.
I vividly recall one incident where I had developed an abscess on one of my molars at age 10. It was swollen and it hurt. I felt feverish and tired. One of mom’s friends suggested I be given an aspirin. My mother became upset and said she wasn’t going to give her child a drug for a sore tooth. Instead, she had me swish and gargle with a warm solution of salt in water. The pain subsided and the abscess shrunk in just a few days. I recall the entire incident, but particularly my mom’s charged reaction to giving a drug to a child.
Today, few individuals would bat an eye at the idea of aspirin. In fact, large numbers of parents give their children drugs that are far more dangerous than aspirin, including ones designed to alter the mind and emotions.
Prophets don’t predict the future. They describe the world as it is. They present truth, especially when it goes against the grain. In general, giving drugs to children is common today. My mother was appalled by the idea, as I am today.
Too many of us use too many drugs and it is particularly alarming that we think nothing of drugging our children so their behavior is more acceptable. Furthermore, we ingest handfuls of pills to treat every sort of symptom rather than searching for and correcting the underlying causes. Yes, our problems don’t usually happen without reason. There are causes and we usually can address them directly, without first reaching for a bottle of drugs.
Yes, it’s a mindset, a belief, that there’s a pill to cure our every ill. Sadly, that isn’t usually true. And, clinging to such a belief will not improve the likelihood it will become true. There is poison in every potion. Yes, every one of them. You alone have the choice to accept the system that will drug you, or try something else. You can decide to be healthy. It takes work, but seems infinitely more appropriate than the medical options. What do you think?
Larry Frieders is a pharmacist in Aurora who had a book published, The Undruggist: Book One, A Tale of Modern Apothecary and Wellness. He can be reached at
thecompounder.com/ask-larry or www.facebook.com/thecompounder.
