If you’re 30 or older, chances are you grew up watching Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza. These shows had some great episodes and were fairly simple in their formula. I recall seeing a “Medicine Man” stagecoach pull into town on both shows at several points. This was indicative of the coaches that would come through towns back then selling their “placebo” pills. The pills had no real medical aspects, they just convinced people they were getting better.
Well, since the days of the wild west, we’ve come a long way in medicine. Now pills actually do a lot for us. Some people see an aspirin a day as a miracle pill. Others get help with their sinus problems, and the list goes on and on. The fact is that these days the best diet pills can give a person weight-loss. As a teacher, I have seen that the best ADHD pills can keep a kid focused in class. The best pills for any given ailment can produce relief and healing when properly used.
I think pills get a bad rap. A person these days might be ashamed to take a vitamin in public, fearing it might be seen as taking an illegal drug. The stigma of the word “pill” is real. The truth is, people use all sorts of pills for all sorts of ailments every day. Some might be over-prescribed, which many argue, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that pills in many ways are little miracles saving people from a variety of needless fates. What’s your take on pills today?