‘In times of desperation, remedies spread like wildfire.’
I’m paraphrasing that from the story I mentioned yesterday. I wrote that line down because I was fascinated how the ‘ice pick lobotomy’ could become so popular.
The answer is simply that there was an epidemic of mental illness, and there was nothing else available we could try. In the 1950’s hospitals were overcrowded and there was no medication to treat anyone.
What spread like wildfire recently?
- Social Media
- Organic Foods
- Self Publishing
So far so good, but, these things grew rampantly as well:
- Sub-prime Mortgages
- Debt (Private & Public)
- Incarcerated People
We were desperate for personal connections, real food, and storytelling; we created constructive ways to reach those goals.
We were desperate for assets, cash, goods, and security; we created destructive ways to reach those goals.
Just because an option exists, doesn’t mean we should take it. That’s the easy thing to do.
If you can create a better path to help people accomplish what they are desperate for – not a quick fix or a ‘get rich’ scheme – then you’ll have done something meaningful. And you’ll probably get rich too.
The Healthy Path 