|
Raymond Whitehead
Ph : 0876575316
January 23rd 1997
Dear Mr Byrne,
The enclosed poem I sent recently to a friend of mine in Lithuania.
She is one of the top surgeons there and has become involved with a group of American doctors who set up a joint venture clinic in the capital Vilnius.
In America, Medicine is big business, and these doctors,in my opinion,are getting a foothold in her country at a very vulnerable time while they are still very poor and inexperienced. They are working her all the hours God sends and despite having invited me over for my third visit, she was given very little time off to spend with me as she had in the past. These doctors are putting a lot of money into the clinic and of course expect a good return on that investment. It is a private clinic and charges high fees by Lithuanian standards. She 'is' earning more money but at a high price.
She feels she is making real “ Progress “. I question this idea of progress. In Lithuania these Americans will be big fish in a small but growing pond. In America they would small fish in a large and shark infested sea.
Recently you had an English doctor on the phone who came from the 'healthiest ' town in England. When you asked why this was, his reply surprised that it was not a high tech solution involving some super drug but rather he refused to issue drugs except in an emergency and just told people to get on their bike,stop smoking change their diet etc.
The great killers of our time , Cancer, Heart Disease, could be reduced by as much as 50% to 80% respectively by a simple change of lifestyle. If a drug company had a pill that could do this they would be marketing it as a new wonder drug.
But we would prefer to continue with with a lifestyle of greed and consumption and let science try to find a 'Cure' for the symptoms of this folly. In the meantime we continue to consume at a rate that is not only killing off entire species of plants and animals,but also ourselves. And the competition we are breeding in our people makes us more stressed and a growing danger to each other through growing illness,obesity,violence,depression,drug addiction etc.
To end on a topical note. The Titanic fascinates us as a symbol of man's arrogance in thinking of himself as supreme. I always remember my Grandmother telling me as a child about her Father who worked on the decorative ironwork in the building of the Titanic. She would say that when he ( as a devout Catholic ) came home on leave he would be visibly distressed. He would say “That Ship Will Never Have any Luck “ ...” Do you know what is written or carved on every timber of that ship ? F### The Pope “ and “We are greater than God ! “
Of course much of that was to intimidate and humiliate the Catholics who worked in the Belfast shipyard. However there was a huge element of pride involved ,that this ship was a major triumph over nature .
Let us hope we do not continue much further along this road and view the Earth and our 'Great' scientific achievements in the same way that we viewed the Titanic....as “Unsinkable”
Sincerely,
Raymond Whitehead
|
