Pivoting on Pin Heads

Two individuals both bright in their presentation find the luster of success by trampling on another’s grief. Both huddled, for want of a better word, in the realm of a self-imposed totalitarian-styled narcissism

I came across them through their words and the words left me wanting for air. From those words, one can see that both have no difficulty of expression. Both find refuge in exploiting the right words for the intent in their meaning. Both seem remarkably astute in their discipline of what they wish for the reader to read. So when I read their words, it was an indictment of their intent and purpose.

Mentioning a brave and open person like Lisa Adams whose courage and bravery in fighting the tentacles of a wretched disease in the same flow and context as resource consumption is a travesty,

Yes, this world has changed from the compassionate comforts to the hard realities of fiscal constraints. We see time in terms of money. We see life in terms of money. We see work in terms of money. In fact money seems to govern every aspect of life. Money, it seems governs our lives, thoughts and actions. This stark reality only comes to face its own sets of demons when confronted with the likes of Lisa Adams @AdamsLisa who has led the charge in breast cancer advocacy since facing her illness and has inspired hundreds and thousands of others through her quest.

The “Hope” we have often heard about is the very essence of everyone’s existence. It is the measure of our respect for life. It is the measure of what we see as our future. This same hope is now being reduced to metrics that measure money. Comforting someone in the throes of an illness with euphemisms and sultry inconsequential words, all the while purposing the one object foremost on the bureaucratic mind is a testimony of how far and how deep we as a society have sunk.

And there are many like the Bill and Emma Kellers of the world, who see the world through their own eyes of cost-repair in a money-dominated minded society (here). Forgetting in the process that there are hopes and dreams of individuals other than their own, they cite personal stories to invoke emotions and passion in the current vogue of “Made to Stick” mantra that everyone seems to aspire. They miss the forest for the trees!

Jody Schoger @Jodyms is a wonderful writer, a disciplined and gifted advocate for patients, well-versed in the disease manifestation of breast cancer who lays out clear examples of the many weaknesses in the Keller arguments in her blog (here).which should be taken seriously. 

My medical oncology training and years of experiential reference has seen the world view change when observed through differing set of lenses. What once was is no longer. What was considered prudent has gained notoriety. What once we reveled now we revile. What once we took for compassion now we take as misguided idiosyncrasy. “Change” seems to have taken a path oft-traveled. If medicine is not about, healing, comfort, curative intent, and education, then we are truly adrift as people.

True, the term "Hope" has different meaning to different people. But ultimately it morphs into the cortex of each of our own being. Respect for that "hope" is what makes us human.

Times do change, but human emotions remain the same. The clock ticks and the second flies by, but history of that second should always be considered. If the Kellers and their pontificating kin have their sway we will morph into an even more intolerant society, where any weakness be it disability, infirmity or illness will become a societal burden, a consummation devoutly to be rid  and we know what happened with that way of thinking.