Better Living Through Chemistry?

It’s been brought to my attention that over a month and a half has passed since I last posted here.  While I never said I would blog on a regular basis, here is a little something I’ve been thinking about recently…

Pharmaceutical companies sure have come a long way in the last 20 years or so.  Gone are the days when an elevated cholesterol level or high blood pressure had your Doctor giving you a sheet of paper telling you the right foods to eat and advice on better exercise practices.  Now they automatically write a prescription and tell you, “We’re going to put you on this stuff for 6 months…”.  Not to mention how times have changed since Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No! fight against kids and drugs – “Remember, Son, stay away from the marijuana.  Now here’s your pill to help you focus at school today.”

There is a pill for just about everything; I just wish someone would come up with something to help what I like to call PDD (Personality Deficit Disorder), but until they do I guess people will have to take what they’ve been taking for years – alcohol.

‘Family’ travel?

Take a picture of this – – in your car on the highway; silver SUV from a distant State next to you, two small kids in the back, each with their eyes glued to their own mini TV screen in front of them, parents up front enjoying blissful silence.

Everyday scene, right?  Now ask yourself how far they’ve traveled with the kids watching movies or playing video games, not paying attention to the world passing them by; not seeing the sights or asking, “What’s that big building over there, Dad?”.  How long have they been basically ignoring the natural and man-made scenery all around them?

Back in the ’70s when I went on trips with my parents, they didn’t have the luxury of keeping me sidetracked with games or DVDs.  We had the radio (I’ll talk about that another time).  And we talked.  We talked about the Statue of Liberty each time we saw it in the distance.  I was once told of Boston’s place in the time of the American Revolution as we passed through that fine city.  The discussion of Washington, DC while making our way to Virginia’s Luray Caverns spawned a future trip to the Smithsonian, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.  The list goes on…

Maybe I’m just getting older and being nostalgic.  I’m just happy I didn’t have a DVD player in the backseat.