Two Thoughts

 Good morning!

 I have been thinking about a good subject for this Thursday Thought for several days now.  A variety of subjects have been running through my mind, but none have really taken hold in any significant way.  So, today, with a deadline quickly approaching, I find myself going over various subjects again, trying to come up with something that is appropriate for this forum.

A couple of things have sort of stuck, and I’ll just tell you what both of them are.  One is the incredible change in life, living, and society in the last 60 or more years.  I grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s in the age of 21 inch black and white television, black dial-type wall phones, and enormous cars with engines the size of aircraft engines.  I wondered then, as many did, what the turn of the century would be like.  I wondered what life would be like in the years following that time in the mid 20^th century.  Back then, we had visions of routine space travel by everyone, flying cars, robots that would do everything for us, and the infamous Dick Tracy “two-way wrist TV.”

Of course, all of that was at that time nothing more than wishful thinking and dreaming.  However, today much of that and more is current technology.  Who, for example, could have dreamed of what we know as the cell phone today?  Think of the enormous impact that this one invention has had on the world, let alone the Internet…that goes right along with the phone.  And think of all of the other changes that have taken place in medicine, the environment, space travel and exploration, housing, transportation, agriculture, politics, and energy.  To say it’s mind-boggling is an understatement.

 The other thought has actually been in one of the above categories…medicine.  It used to be, when I was a younger lad, that I had little need of medical professionals.  In the early days of life, I seldom needed to see our family doc.  Oh, I got my vaccinations, and once in awhile needed to see him for some kind of injury.  Doctor Bush was an old-time family physician, doing everything from taking and interpreting his own x rays to giving injections, setting bones,  and stitching up minor wounds.  He and his wife Jenny, his nurse, brought me into the world, and kept us all going throughout the fifties and early sixties.

The clinic he operated was on a first-come-first-served basis.  No appointments.  You just showed up in the waiting area, took stock of who had come in before you, and took your turn.  Pretty simple, actually, and I never…and I mean never…had to pay a bill either before or after my visit.  And as an older child, I did see Dr. Bush, even without my parents knowing beforehand.  He treated me without first asking my parents for permission.  I presume my parents eventually got a bill, but was never sure.

Dr Bush lived modestly and worked hard.  He did house calls.  He delivered babies.  He ran a hospital until later on in the 1950’s.  He billed himself as Osteopath, Physician, and Surgeon.  His wife was a nurse, and was his right hand.  That was the way medicine was done then.

Now, I have I don’t know how many specialists in my health care stable.  Primary care, dermatology, cardiology, urology, physical therapy, ENT, chiropractic, dental, oral surgeon…did I leave anyone out?  And it seems that every other day or so I have this or that medical appointment or therapy.  I think sometimes I’m in a doctor’s office more than I’m at work.  I also have to either pay up front, or have good insurance in order to see anyone about a medical issue.  My, how things have changed.

I have at least six prescription medications I routinely take for blood pressure, cholesterol, and other conditions.  I’m doing exercises for my back and shoulder.  I’m in the middle of having dental implants.  And I sometimes think I’m gradually falling apart at the seams.  Of course, in a way, I AM falling apart.  As we all get older, we are less and less able to cope and adjust to the physical deterioration that inevitably happens.  It’s just a fact of life and living.

As I think about these two different, but somewhat related subjects, I still wonder what my topic for this Thursday Thought should be.  I really needn’t wonder, though, because the topic of this thought has turned out to be these two topics of my thoughts and how things…and times…have changed over the years.

I’ve often thought about my grandfather, born in 1870 and passing away in 1966.  I think of the enormous changes he saw in his lifetime…the automobile, space travel, television and radio, the polio vaccine, several wars, the demise of the gold standard for our currency, air travel, atomic energy, and many other foundational and incredible inventions, events, and occurrences.  And then I think of my own 70-odd years and how much has changed…and how much as stayed the same.

I am grateful for the time God has given me.  And I look forward to whatever time I have left.  I especially look ahead, though, to being in His presence, no longer needing medications, therapists, or dentists.

May God bless you today.