I was listening to 93.3 FM the other day and they were having a radiothon for something or another. I am always being asked to donate a buck to this or that when shopping. I don’t have a problem with all that and I really think it’s great that people step forward and give. I mean, these days it’s hard to give money when things are so tight.
But, and this is a big but, after losing yet another close friend today, to cancer (again) I have to wonder…What the hell are they curing? I mean yes, technology has advanced and they can administer drugs better and chemotherapy better but what exactly after decades and decades of research have or has anyone cured? Nothing! Nada nill nuttin. Sure you get cancer and if you are lucky, you can have it removed or blasted out of your system and if you are even luckier, you might be able to afford the treatments. Your not cured as you will always need to be checked and most of the time, the damn cancer returns. All a person gets is extra time on Earth. In the end, the Obit reads;”….after a long and brave battle with cancer..”
It seems in a country where healthcare is a profit run business, nothing is cured. It’s almost like the big health companies want you sick and if you are sick, the more they profit. Look at the pharmaceutical companies. They have invented a pill for everything. Shit, when I was a kid and you got sick you had 3 things. Aspirin, band aides, and that nasty tasting cough syrup.
Now you got a pill for everything. You name it, take their pill and if it doesn’t make you go blind, give you anal leakage, drop your blood pressure to dangerous levels, cause a rash, make you puke, or kill you, you can take it and then smell flowers.
Point? After over 30+ years of Jerry’s kids, Race for the Cure, JDF, Easter Seals, and all the others, How about a cure!!! For something! Anything! Otherwise, one can become cynical about all these fund raising events and wonder if these organizations like the American Cancer Society, Lung Association, Heart, or whatever exist solely to provide jobs to top executives who make a nice living off running these places.
No one, not even me wants to see a child get sick, or an adult succumb to a disease but with today’s technology where I can Bluetooth my iPhone to a stereo system, where you can call anyone on the planet from your pocket, where you can find a bottle of ketchup simply by asking your iPhone where to go, why do I have to have friends die after a courageous battle with some sickness?
Instead of Peace on Earth for Christmas, this year I want a cure…for something….anything. I would love to see the American Cancer Society shut down because we can cure it!
7 comments:
Valid questions and concerns. If you were well, pharmaceutical companies could not hoard drugs to raise prices and doctors would be out of business. Big bucks for executives - they might have to get a Real Job. Yes, the question is: WHY is there no cure when everything else/technology is so advanced?!
Em: You didn't have 4 things available to treat sickness? No chicken soup at your home?
My children repeatedly ask me, "Why would I take a pill that potentially can do more damage than what I have?" Great point, you wouldn't take that pill.
I understand in asian countries, the philosophy used to be that you paid the doctor to keep you well. Once you became sick, then you no longer paid. The doctor was required to pay for all of your treatment so that you would regain your health. I understand that Western influence has changed that philosophy.
Also, some sickness and disease can be aggravated by health / life choices ... you know the drill ... proper sleep, exercise, diet, social interactions and so on.
You usually cannot beat the system with the 'invincible' teenager mindset that 'it will never happen to me' ... because over time, you usually pay for poor life choices made for one day, one week, one month, one year and then decades of fertilizing those poor choices.
The cure is perhaps best in making better health / life choices in the beginning ... prevention ... instead of a cure.
Benjamin Franklin's adage ... "An ounce of pervention is worth a pound of cure" remains true today.
You forgot the biggest farce of them all Komen and Racing for the Cure. More and more women are encountering breast cancer, but all the Komen people seem to do is advertise for the next Race.
No I mentioned Race for the Cure. Yes I think that is a money job for those at the top who run it. Yes, it is sad that women are still dying from breast cancer and I haven't seen anything close to a cure but like another poster here said, it is also about lifestyle choices we make during our lives. Still, millions and millions of dollars donated over the last few decades and nothing. Oh yea, great strides have been made but no cure. I tend to think that if a cure was found, how many people would be out of work? I am sorry, but in this country, as long as there is profit in sickness, nothing will change but the rising cost of your medical bill.
If you want to get really upset, watch Burzynski, The Movie. It's a great documentary about the cure for cancer.
When a young clerk asked a customer if they wanted to donate a buck to St Jude - the reply I heard was "Why? The have $2billion in the bank"
Health care is always a controversial issue with profit versus integrity. The book "Overtreated" addresses pertinent issues as well as another title which I can't recall at this moment that discusses the pharmacy "industry." Enlightening facts. The too-many-chiefs seems to apply to these huge charities, as mentioned above in other posts, and I wonder if their jobs are dependent on no cures??!! One of those Best Kept Secrets . . .
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