Revolving Thought

Modern medicine is a wonderful thing, pain relievers especially. I’ve been looking around me, and people are able to maintain a youthful appearance well into their 6th decade of life because

• They work out and eat well
• They moisturize daily and work out
• Eat well and when they don’t, they can always go to the gym
• Arthritis, artificial knees and hips, donated kidneys and livers, are all ameliorated by pain killers

Before pain killers and NSAIDs, a man or a woman in pain simply had to deal with it. At 36, I would be a crotchety old hag unable or unwilling to hold the baby, walk the kids to school, ride a bike or hike or swim or play, but with NSAIDs to relieve the pain of the carpal tunnel, I can continue to act as I would like; which leads to the next thought:

Whose vision is more accurate?

My father’s mother was very ill for many years when he was young and confined to her bed. Pain relievers were restricted to opiates, addictive and sleep inducing. I’m sure this was not in her plans for how to live her life, but it was inevitable. A life of pain would make death a welcome relief rather than a fearful scourge. Whose vision of her was more truthful: the way she saw herself before illness struck, or the women her two little boys saw on a daily basis?

Modern medicine makes many things possible, but is that necessarily a good thing? People are living longer and more active lives, on the one hand, and on the other, we’re driving further, longer, requiring more energy and contributing to a larger carbon foot print which ultimately could wipe out the conditions that made human life possible.

Modern medicine is an amazing thing.