A Personal Mission Statement
Many of us are mesmerized
by the glitter of high-tech "solutions, " we pathetically believe in
"fix-it" drugs, we mistakenly think all pain is an evil to be
suppressed, we seek to postpone death at almost any cost.
I appeal to the actual
experience of people, to the sensibleness of the ordinary person, in direct
opposition to professional diagnosis and judgement. I appeal to people's
memories, in opposition to the illusions of progress. Let us look at the
conditions of our households and communities, not at the quality of
"health care" delivery; health is not a deliverable commodity and
care does not come out of a system.
I demand certain liberties
for those who would celebrate living rather than preserve "life":
·
the liberty to declare myself sick;
·
the liberty to refuse any and all medical treatment at any time;
·
the liberty to take any drug or treatment of my own choosing;
·
the liberty to be treated by the person of my choice, that is, by anyone
in the community who feels called to the practice of healing, whether that
person be an acupuncturist, a homeopathic physician, a neurosurgeon, an
astrologer, a witch doctor or someone else;
·
the liberty to die without diagnosis.
I do not believe that
countries need a national "health" policy, something given to their
citizens.
Rather, the latter need the
courageous virtue to face certain truths:
·
we will never eliminate pain;
·
we will not cure all disorders;
·
we will certainly die.
Therefore, as sensible
creatures, we must face the fact that the pursuit of health may be a sickening
disorder. There are no scientific, technological solutions. There is the daily
task of accepting the fragility and contingency of the human situation. There
are reasonable limits which must be placed on conventional "health"
care. We urgently need to define anew what duties belong to us as persons, what
pertains to our communities, what we relinquish to the state.
Yes, we suffer pain, we
become ill, we die. But we also hope, laugh, celebrate; we know the joy of
caring for one another; often we are healed and we recover by many means. We do
not have to pursue the path of the flattening out of human experience.
[Ivan Illich –
1926-2002 ]
Keith and Marnie Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site
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