Taking pills

Subject: Taking pills

One of the few things which remain on our, must do agenda each day particularly as we get older is to pop at least one pill onto the mouth, morning or evening. It's often more than one and the regime of which pill to take and when is sometimes the most challenging thing we do all day.

Pills for this and pills for that, pills to counter the side effects of another pill, pills which prevent us from becoming ill and pills which, in themselves, make you ill.
The pharmaceutical industry is one which has grown to be one of the most lucrative. Billions of pounds are made and spent each year as pharmacist design new concoctions and doctors do their bidding doling out these packages of pills designed to keep us alive but collectively, perhaps, adding to your chance of an early farewell.
As I lie in bed at night feeling the twitches of a body which is becoming 'past it's sell by date' the inclination to get up and take a pill to calm that bit down or ease the discomfort in that other bit is part of modern living. Simply leaving the body's immune system to cope with the problem is an old fashioned. To wait until the ache has gone of itself is thought to be dangerous since the ache might be something more serious and getting up to search amongst the shelves in the medical cabinet for something with ache written on it is preferred. 

Of course there have been immense strides in the pharmaceutical industry producing the miracle cure which save our lives. There is an assumption that there is a pharmaceutical pill for everything, if not now at least around the corner and It gives us hope for a comfortable longevity, and a provision against the terror of a painful old age. It extends our lives, in some cases by decades but of course it brings a cost. Whilst the body is being propped up, the brain is largely left to go its own way and apart from easing a head pain such as migraine, which my mother suffered and the only thing available was a dark room and a vinegar poultice laid over the forehead.

Today the body is encouraged to move into its eightieth/ninetieth year whilst the brain dissembles with memory loss and a lack of coordination, making us the infant again. 
They are working on a cure of course and one day, another pill will be added to our list of props to make the play go on.
Homeopathy, alternate medicine, Asian potions and pin sticking all have their followers. Who am I to doubt their efficacy but it seems this quest for a long life has become too pervasive. Life means more than just monitoring the heart beat and whilst one of the most difficult things in life is accepting old age, particularly if the mind still seems up for play, the thought of prolonging life has to be tempered with the inevitability of death.
The Buddhist have a life long discernment of dying they build it into their 'process of living'. They are aware of the importance of dying as an 'accompaniment' to living, not a thing to fear but something to understand and be prepared for. The process of living is not an end in itself but an opportunity to prepare for dying and their concern for an afterlife, where they expect to be reborn is always with them as they tender their actions in this life.
Other forms of forming a perspective on this issue of living and dying turn to 'eternal salvation', an existence beyond the threshold of death. Belief in God and ones service to god is their path and whilst it is more ethereal than the Buddhist concept of rejoining living creatures on earth, religions propagate a heaven where, on exiting life, you arrive in a better place. 
The atheist has non of these comforts as he or she contend there is nothing else, other than this life and that you had better make the best of it whist here on earth.
Who is right will only be revealed when we pass away. This life is the only 'experience' we have, rich or banal, elevating or venal, it's up to us in our independent ways to find out what is right for us and, as far as I know, there are no pills to take on the other side.