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Upon Reflection and Imagination

 


As winter now creeps into our jurisdiction. We fold up our tarps, some head south. I stay put. I don’t know if a human being is supposed to reflect every single day of their lives. But I know I do. I reflect on what is. Sometimes I’m driving, doing a chore, raking or out running miles. As well, I reflect on what was and what may be. Or what I hope to be.

I get my ‘aha!’ moments alone most often. Especially nowadays. I do wonder what life would be like if my spouse had not gotten terminally ill and died. Or remained ill, somehow and survived. On the latter part, he would’ve been frustrated and saddened. On the first part, he would’ve been grateful. That I know.

I reflect upon the population. The level of ambiguity, uncertainty, and apathy. All of which I personally do not understand completely, even after surviving so much myself. It’s nearly sixty years I’ve existed on this earth. And yet, I still cannot wrap my mind around any disinterest in other’s welfare. Or jealousy for no other reason than a primitive one. Yes, we still haven’t rid ourselves of hatred for no reason.

Hatred is a heavy burden. But somehow many of us find it easier to carry hatred, than to eat right, go for a walk or a run. Or consider other’s plight that we know nothing about. We seem to lose interest in anyone or any living thing in our lives other than our own being. This is nothing new. This behavior goes back to Biblical times. It’s how humans are made. However, I don’t believe we were meant to stay in such a distorted homeostasis as that.

We need to learn how to break free from the homeostasis we are so comfortable in the living of.  I told my husband before he became terminal, “I hate to tell you this. But when some of the old blood passes, we can become more evolved. We need to evolve, every generation.  If we don’t then we are lost.” This is how I see the human condition. It should never remain the same.  It should always be progressing to a higher level of understanding.

I once told a brain surgeon, “We need a variety of different types of internists. Reason being, is that why would we give a woman the same exact antibiotic, as we would a man? Or why would we give a woman with a different chemical makeup the same antibiotic as another woman with an auto-immune issue?” I basically explained how we should view the makeup of people based on their chemistry and their psyche as well.

I told him, “If we are smart enough and evolving enough in medicine we will have at least five different types of internists. And varying degrees of antibiotics for each body type. I see this one hundred fifty years from now.” I do wish it were sooner.

I told a friend who is an anesthesiologist, “We can do most surgeries without any anesthetics.” We debated on who couldn’t or when it couldn’t be done. But I know most surgeries that are done nowadays it’s possible.  I do know this to be true. My internist knows this too. Imagine how healthy you would be if less drugs were put into you for surgery, but yet pain wasn’t what you felt it was. Can you imagine? I can. I’ve done that. And I’m not the first human being to have experienced it, either. ---Jody-Lynn Reicher

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