Staying odd, weird, or peculiar

I recently had an interesting discussion about alternative health care.  The majority of the room felt like responsible parents/people rely on traditional medicine.  I don't.  I feel like too many people turn their responsibility over to an "expert".  They want to find a doctor who will sympathize, give them a quick fix, or be willing to put them on a path of experts, medications, side effects and more medications.  I am not anti-Western medicine.  I am pro - think it through, study it out, take responsibility for your self, learn to handle things at home, trust the creator, seek to understand the body.  Ask more questions.  Seek  answers from a variety of sources and make an educated decision.  We are each different.  Doctors don't know or understand everything.  Drugs can't fix everything.  I think anyone would agree.  The scary part comes when we admit that there might be another way to take care of an ailment, a discomfort, a problem.  That is when we may need to do things differently than the popular norm.

I came away realizing again that I am odd.  I like questioning tradition.  I don't want to do it just because that is the way it has always been done or everyone else is doing it.  I do believe is respecting civil decency, high moral standards, customs. . .  I also believe in personal responsibility, personal revelation, and personal mission and purpose.  I believe that there is more than one "right way".

One of the many ways I choose a less traveled road is in education.  We homeschool.  Many people are beginning to look at the possibility of doing it or at least allowing others to do it.  I am grateful for choices and for those who take the time to consciously choose their course, their path.  I'm always looking to understand better and learn from others who have divergent thinking, new ideas, different answers to the old questions.  Some recent sources that I highly recommend.

1.  Tall One shared this book, insisted that I read it and is anxious to get his friends and eventually someone at the local high school to read it.  It is called Stop Stealing Dreams and is a free online book about learning, education, and  the real needs of education.

2. Ken Robinson on TED has some interesting ideas about education, creativity and how are schools are doing.


http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html

3.  Other recent Eye opening reading was The Alchemist.  I actually got it in audiobook form and enjoyed listening to it.

Back to the original health issues, I believe that we just have to get smarter.  There are people on every side of things that have had success, been deceived, have spent way too much money, or been able to improve their standard of health.We must be willing to seek out what is best for us. And then to trust those answers.

Recently while discussing menapause a family member said that she had taken a particular drug because she had been having hot flashes.  Yes, it could give her breast cancer but she didn't care.  To me that does not make sense. The point brought up in the discussion the other night is the "proven scientific results" of drugs or diagnosis.

Doctors practice medicine.  They spend a lot of time becoming qualified and then they try to remember everything they were taught and please the patient.  The pharmaceutical companies are there to educate them on the newest drug options, offer samples, and hope for the best.  The number of side effects that require additional treatment can be staggering. Doctors can't fix everything. I am grateful for what they can do and especially for their willingness and efforts.  If we would take better care of those things within our ability maybe they would have more time to figure out the big stuff.  If we would take time to learn from our challenges, maybe we would become better, find ways to help others and discover that God has provided many answers that are often safer and healthier.

I guess my goal is to make choices with my eyes wide open, be willing to trust my instinct and be willing to admit that sometimes we get to do leave the norm and find something better.