That dreadful plea: just make me well. Of course sometimes it isn’t a plea but a demand. I must admit that I really can’t stand to hear that sort of thing in most cases, as plea or demand. Too frequently it does not seem entirely reasonable in the circumstances.
So am I some kind of cold hearted individual who enjoys seeing people suffer? Absolutely not! Far from it. What I am, is someone who believes in the principle of self-responsibility and who expects to see it exercised by adults who have no reasonable excuse for failing to take appropriate action to care for themselves, and those for whom they are responsible, such as their children.
For example, when someone who has the means and the knowledge to avoid sunburn becomes severely sunburnt, or allows their children to become sunburnt, that person has failed to act responsibly. If that person then says, just make me well or just fix this burn or just take away my pain or just reassure me that this hasn’t significantly increased my skin cancer risk, I am likely to be just a little annoyed. It should not have occurred in the first place and that it did is entirely their responsibility. They are apt to get just a little lecture on the error of their ways.
The trouble with the "just make me well" line, in any of its guises, is that it implicitly shifts responsibility away from where it belongs. It is as though the next phrase implied is "that’s your job" and they can wash their hands of the responsibility entirely.
Now before anyone becomes too hostile, let me hasten to say that clearly some people need help for conditions that may reasonably be considered beyond their ability to have prevented or at least to have known how to prevent. Their situation certainly doesn’t evoke the same response. I know about the problem of victim blaming and am not advocating any such practice here.
To give a classic illustration of failure to take responsibility, consider people with severe respiratory problems who continue to smoke. Far too often I have seen people with advanced emphysema who cannot take in a decent breath of air, light up and smoke a cigarette. Then in a fit of gasping and respiratory distress, demand treatment.
What about people with arthritis who continue to drink coffee and eat foods made with refined flours? Or people at risk of cardivascular disease with strong family histories of the disease who refuse to change their diet or engage in regular exercise? What about people who simply continue to smoke? Is this OK? Should we just wait until they become sick and then respond to their "just make me well"?
I think not.
The fact is a tremendous amount of health knowledge is available for people and a plentiful supply of health educators can be found with little real effort. Claims that "my doctor didn’t tell me" simply don’t constitute an acceptable excuse.
The fact is doctors generally are quite knowledgable about some disease but don’t know it all and they tend to know very little about health, though they are usually loathe to admit that. Actually, some know so little about health, they fail to even understand how little they know.
So I encourage you to learn all you can about health and to take action to care for yourself. Seek and ye shall find. It’s your life.
