Truth Telling...

We live in a time that has people wondering "what is truth?". Everyone seems to have their own truth(s). These "truths" encompass everything in our lives - what we believe becomes who we are and how we live. Our truths build our worldview and dictate how we choose to live. But we return again and again to the question, what is truth?

I was reading a commentary stream on People's Pharmacy "www.peoplespharmacy.com" about generic drugs and whether they are identical or not. Lots of well meaning people (WMP's) stating their "truths" and attempting to influence others worldviews. Like many (if not most) discussions, there is a lot more "heat" than "light" with many more opinions (and personal testimonies) being shared than actual facts.

Now, the truth about taking anything into our non-identical bodies is that we will have non-identical results. Medications and all entities that come into our bodies need to get processed and removed. There are a range of experiences with any medication given to a group of non-identical persons (hence the laundry list of side effects in any package insert). Medications get FDA approval if (and only if) the range of positive effects greatly outweighs the range of negative effects. Thus, the compound gets labeled safe and effective for the FDA approved indication. However, no two non-identical individuals will ever have identical experiences with any medication - period.

Truths about generic medications are that they are similar but not identical to branded products. They behave in the human body in a similar but not identical manner to the original compound. They are made (most often today) by companies that are wholly owned subsidiaries of larger brand name manufacturers (if you were a large Pharma company about to lose 50% of your market share, you would buy your competitor too). Thus, all generic medications are made to the same Good Manufaturing Process (GMP) standards as brand name medications. The truth is that for the most part, generic medications work every bit as well for most people - yes, there are notable exceptions, but they are exceptions.

Al Gore said it best when he described "inconvenient truths". These truths are those things which circumvent our truths, or open our worldviews to other ways of seeing (having our eyes opened). This is the role that faith communities play in helping us to see beyond our simplified personal worldview to encompass a broader and more integrated view. With those eyes, we see the social injustices and struggles of those who "but for the grace of G-d" would be us. This is the integrated worldview that we at Possibilities Journey Inc (www.possjrny.org) are trying to have. We are trying our best to embrace the broadest truths such as loving our neighbors as ourselves, and using those to set our agenda.

Truth be told, we are not treating each other as we know we should, or are capable of doing. Something to consider as we close in on Passover and Easter.

Peace,
Dan