So here's the thing: I can't give the Widge anything. There aren't any children's cold meds, not until he's 6 or something like that. Of course, cutting edge medical technology, as history proves, isn't always good for us. Who can forget bleeding, after all? So we're probably better off not taking any medications at all, ever. But that's no good for the small boy who isn't sleeping well because he can't breathe through his nose, nor the parents who have to listen to his snoring all night. Poor Widge. It really doesn't slow him down much, though. He just snorts more as he dashes around getting into things.
So here's my problem: some pizzas were recalled lately, because of E.Coli. In fact there have been a number of recalls lately, for foods as well as the much-hyped toy recalls. Where's that better living through chemistry we were promised? At the rate things are going, it won't be long before we're all living on subsistence farms, whittling toys out of natural wood, knitting sweaters from the wool of our organically-raised sheep, eating only what we produce, so we know that science hasn't had a finger in our consumption.
The thing is, if we eliminate all lead, any bacterial hazard, any threat of side effects, and immunize ourselves as much as possible, what are we achieving? If we all live 'til well over 100, will it be worth all the tampering with our food and clothes and lives? I'm all for some well-placed science, but the fact that we can shoot up cows with antibiotics doesn't mean we
should. I'm not saying we should ignore lead and just give our kids the drugs. I'm saying we can't protect ourselves from every hazard, and in our efforts to do so, I'll think we're getting increasingly paranoid. After all, mothers at the turn of the last century handled teething and childhood sickness by cheerfully administering the latest wonder-drug: the opium derivative laudanum, or the cutting-edge cough medicine, heroin. (thank you, History Channel, for that). This sort of thing isn't a new problem, and so far modern science hasn't been 100 percent right yet. I'm thinking we shouldn't try to rely on medicine to cure everything, we should expect that the FDA can't possibly catch all the potential hazards, and we should take a deep breath and remember that even with the appalling lack of laboratory tests, scientific studies, and knowledge of anatomy, people throughout history have managed to survive long enough to reproduce, compose music, churn out some very nice paintings, and brew the occasional pint. This still isn't helping the sweet sound of a chorus of bears in the bedroom. The little Widge still needs his nose wipes roughly 10, 000 times a day. But the big picture is: this kid has a sniffle. A few days of runny nose, and he'll be fine. Technology is pretty good: if he catches pneumonia, I feel safe with the medical profession. And until then, we're probably better off leaving it alone. Because medicine, chemistry, the FDA, (and the fine people from the DEA who are now reading this because I mentioned laudanum, opium, and heroin in the same sentence) or any other technology aren't saviors, they aren't infallible, and at the end of the day, none of them can or should be held responsible for our day-to-day wellbeing. Even if you have a personal physician who's whole job is to advise you on the potential medical consequences of every action, he'd still be wrong sometimes. My message, then, to technological and regulatory agencies is: hey, everybody makes mistakes, but we're still cool.
And that was this month's serious post.
2 comments:
well i hope the widge pulls through, Then he can get back to the normal routine of running about and such
if the widge is sick how come you had so much time to post a lenghty bit. although i agree with you.
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