Ahh... 1346. It was not really the best of times, but probably could be in many ways the worst of times. Europe was attempting to shudder off the dark Ages, but that would come in another 200 years or so!
In the meantime, the process of mass animal domestication and production techniques had brought a bevy of diseases into the fore to attack the immune systems in the rural areas, and if that didn't travel past city walls, inside most cities the streets in these population centers served as open sewers!
Once sick, people would pray for you, doctors would make potions to calm your humours, and in extreme desperation you could get a barber to let some blood if the mercury tincture the doctors prescribed didn't work... What backwards times!
Unfortunately, in the intervening 663 years or so, we humans haven't seemed to learn our lessons very well!
(A) the process of mass animal domestication and production techniques had brought a bevy of diseases into the fore to attack the immune systems NOW: H1N1, H5N1, et. al.
(B) most population centers served as open sewers! If we consider that we know that toxic chemicals are analogous to "waste" back in the 14th Century; Then why have we out-moded labelling of toxic chemicals used daily, allow these and industrial chemical to be released in our water, air, and lands, and literally have a garbage island floating in our oceans killing food resources we rely upon?
(C) people would pray for you, NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT... I guess-- other than not too much has changed.
(D) doctors would make potions to calm your humours, NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT... I guess-- other than not too much has changed.
(E) in extreme desperation you could get a barber to let some blood
NOW: Except it is the Doctors who actually cut you up.
(F) if the mercury tincture the doctors prescribed didn't work NOW: Instead of various quicksilver and herbal tinctures we have chemical therapy, and other methods to poison the patient back into health.
Lets be clear, I am stating that (I) we are spewing poisons into our environment that (II) directly or indirectly lead to the creation of Cancer and other diseases, and (III) our medicine is confounded searching for remedy and cures (obviously the last 600+ years has seen dramatic improvement in medicine [which is a very good thing that we are doing our best to mitigate the situation] however for the point made here we are still attempting to cure symptoms as opposed to causes of illness). Yet if we confront the source of our problems (equivalent to underground sewage, sewage treatment, regular washing and bathing, and certain sanitary practices helped solve the Black Death), maybe we would have fewer, less virulent, and less aggressive strains of the modern version of disease we have been carrying through our human history?
Barring my Meta-behaviouralists social modification approach, we need to raise funds to assist our researchers, doctors, and practicianers to discover cures for these diseases.
So, as you can see in the upper left-hand corner of my Blog, there is a place for you to donate to the LLS. I am a member of Team In Training. Please act now to donate what you can: I am running the half marathon, so a $25 donation today works out to less than $2 per mile! THANK YOU.
My friend survived non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma when I was a pre-teen; My brother died at age 36 from an aggressive metastasisized prostate Cancer that used as one of its tactics treatment developed by LLS; and now I learn that my childhood hero Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a rare form of blood borne Cancer.
To complete the puzzle of my adamance and disgust with the very existence of this disease called Cancer (which is really a wide array of diseases that have similar attack strategies against the healthy human body), I learned the day of my last blog that my sister has stage three breast cancer-- she is only 38!
In a prior post, I suggest we declare war on Cancer, and now I am no longer waiting for the politicians, or anyone else for that matter to do so... to quote the Bard, "Out Damn Spot!"
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