Heather Elizabeth Baird wrote:
>
> Like, the cures are easy:
> Avoid lung cancer by not smoking.
> Avoid skin cancer by staying out of the sun.
> Everyone knows how to avoid venereal disease.
> Avoid the cold by avoiding people.
> [log in to unmask]
Billy-
I am writing this as your posts are comming in one by one.
The problem with your statements is that they are that they ignore that
illness occurs in human beings not machines. If you want to cure the
common cold you can avoid people. Don't go to the beach with others
especially if you will be near people who smoke. If you want to avoid
the risk of VD then don't share yourself with anyone without a
cerificate each time you make love that your partner is VD free. I
can't think of any way to feel cold and alone more than the avoidance of
human contact. And that isolation probably decreases immunity anyway. So
you can't win.
Billy, it appears as though you take a position similar to that of the
Christian Scientist's view of disease which as I understand it is that
disease is an illusion and you create the reality in which you
exprerience it. If one is ill it is their fault for not believing
strongly enough that illness is an illusion.
I take a different view. Blame of myself or anyone else has little
place in my schema. I reserve blame for those who knowingly attempt to
cofuse people about facts which they know to be accurate to make it
harder for others to make informed choices. {If there is a hell it is
certain to have a good supply of cigarrette company executives.}
While, maybe I shouldn't have had contact with anyone during the 1954
polio epidemic I did and lost part of the use of my left leg. Should I
blame myself or my parents, should I have projected myself into another
reality or play the hand that was dealt to me. As human beings we often
give into our impulses and do what we know is not good for us. Or , at
other times we are able to make rational choices based on what we know
at the time. That clearly differs from the omnipotent and omnicient
position that you appear to take- "I am the center of the universe
responsible for everything that happens to myself or anyone I come in
contact with".
We are not responsible for our PD. None of us did anything purposely to
cause our disease. No one else is either. It is human nature to want
to control the cards on the blackjack table of life if that fails
sometimes to blame others for stacking the deck, But we are human- we
can't predict many of the positive or negative consequenses of our acts.
The most that we can do is try to learn the rules that govern the game
and increase the odds of a positive outcome.
Blame of self or others is not the answer. Neither is nihilism. We
have the ability to affect the course of our illness by educating
ourselves about our options, taking prudent risks where indicated and
most of all by recognizing, accepting and living our humanity with all
its problems but also all its rewards.
Now we will finish the service by turning to page 152 and joining
together in singing...
Charlie
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CHARLES T. MEYER, M.D.
MADISON, WISCONSIN
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