We've established the most enormous medical entity ever conceived... and people are sicker than ever. We cure nothing! We heal nothing!
Interpretation
Despite advancements in medicine, people are becoming increasingly unwell.
Paddy Chayefsky's quote highlights a paradox in modern medicine, where the establishment of a vast medical infrastructure has not necessarily led to improved health outcomes. It suggests that while we may have the means to address illness, the focus might be misplaced, resulting in a society that is sicker despite the existence of sophisticated medical solutions.
In practice
In a speech addressing healthcare policy, one might say, 'As Paddy Chayefsky once remarked, despite our extensive medical efforts, the question remains: are we truly making people healthier?'
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business...There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.
It's always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it's always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.
Television will do anything for a rating... anything!
Television is democracy at its ugliest.
We have to ask ourselves whether medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering.
My research has shown me that when emotions are expressed-which is to say that the biochemicals that are the substrate of emotion are flowing freely-all systems are united and made whole. When emotions are repressed, denied, not allowed to be whatever they may be, our network pathways get blocked, stopping the flow of the vital feel-good, unifying chemicals that run both our biology and our behavior.
Healthy plants and trees yield abundant flowers and fruits. Similarly, from a healthy person, smiles and happiness shine forth like the rays of the sun.
Many people assume the diseases that kill us are pre-programmed into our genes. High blood pressure by 55, heart attacks at 60, maybe cancer at 70, and so on... But for most of the leading causes of death, our genes usually account for only 10-20 per cent of risk.
We all need to start making some changes to how our families eat. Now, everyone loves a good Sunday dinner. Me included. And there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when we eat Sunday dinner Monday through Saturday.
Your choice of diet can influence your long term health prospects more than any other action you might take.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.