I woke up this morning grumbling. Why is it that the respiratory illness that started a week ago is still hanging on? Why is it that my little boy is still coughing and wheezing in spite of two doctor visits and daily nebulizer treatments? I want my normal life back!
Of course, being the historian that I am, I immediately began to think about those hearty souls who first came to America, as well as those a century and more later who “tamed the wilderness.” They were, according to Dr. Peter Lillback, a “premedical society.” When they got sick, they had no doctors to go to. (Of course, later on in American history, you could always consult a barber if you had a medical complaint.) They had no 24 hour pharmacies or a plethora of cold remedies. They had to keep on working, or their survival would be in jeopardy. Illness was often more than an inconvenience–it could be life threatening.
And yet, they accepted that life was hard. They knew they could die from an accute sickness. They knew they were “dust.”
That being said, I think I have a grip now! This congestion will pass. Thanks be to God!
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