A few weeks ago I visited London for the first time in my life. The other Americans and I took a trip to the British Museum and spent two hours wondering around the galleries filled with artefacts, taxidermy animals, and paintings. I was awed by the size of the Rosetta Stone and, admittedly, a bit frightened by the petrified mummies but the display that remains the most salient in my mind was called “Cradle to Grave.”
When I first looked at this work of art, I thought it was just long line of netting with little coloured dots entangled in it. Only after a second glance and a peek at the description, did I realize that “Cradle to Grave” told the entire medical history of one real woman and one real man. Each received general immunizations and painkillers. Each was also treated for specific illnesses, including asthma, high blood pressure, and hormone replacement. And each length of fabric contains over 14,000 drugs and stretches thirteen metres.
I found the sight of all those pills neatly lined up in rows of five a bit unsettling when I thought of all the medication I have consumed over my twenty-one years. Unfortunately, the two strips of cloth filled with so many multi-coloured tablets do not show the entirety of drugs we expose our bodies to. The display does not include over-the-counter medication, of which the average person takes about 40,000 over his/her lifetime.
Examining the lines of pills and thinking about the effects all of them must have on a body got me thinking – how many pills that I swallow are really necessary for my survival? Is our reliance on medication damaging our bodies and/or our state of mind? I’m not denying the fact that a lot of medication is absolutely vital for a person’s health but when I look over the span of my life I start to question my own dependence on the little tablets that “make me feel better.”
Who doesn’t want to be “relaxed” or feel “happy” or sleep “well” or be “pain free?” Just look at the section labelled “Self-Help” (aka the “Quick Fix”) in a bookstore or count the number of anti-depressants prescribed to people or watch the all the adverts for sleep medication and you’ll have your answer – everyone.
But what does being “relaxed” or “happy” or “well” or “pain free” really mean and what are the causes for not experience these feelings? Can’t being “stressed” or “hyper” or “sad” or “sleepless” or “in pain” have countless sources and can’t these feelings be a good thing sometimes? “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” right? And what about “no pain no gain”? Isn’t there some truth behind these sayings?
Sadness is seen as an enemy that must be beaten by whatever means necessary but sadness can also be a very powerful emotion. It is an emotion that people experience when they are experiencing some form of pain and, often times, this pain just needs time to heal or work itself out. Hyperactivity can also be seen as a vicious ailment. Children are expected to pay attention at school and behave calmly at home or they are often diagnosed with ADHD or hyperactivity and are prescribed Ritalin or some other form of stimulant.
The ease with which people can receive drugs and with which doctors prescribe them frightens me. There are even online pharmacists now so you can order online without a prescription. Everyone wants a quick fix with immediate results. Sleep now. Happy now. Relaxed now. Pain free now. People see anything but happy, middle-of-the-road behaviour as a problem that must be fixed. How far will we go to become what society has deemed a “normal” person? And what parts of ourselves are losing to become this defined “normal” person?
Julie is a student at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and is working with the Welsh Liberal Democrats at the National Assembly for Wales until Christmas.
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