You cannot blame the system for your lack of judgment

Many of the people I interact with here on the platform belong to the same bubble and we spend a lot of time discussing the system and its many wrongs, how people are constantly being brainwashed and bullied and so on. And by system I mean the society we live in as a whole, from politics to public education or Big Pharma. Yes, the system is to blame for many thins, but what about personal responsibility? The ordinary people, the sheeple aren’t they responsible for their fate?

As it happened, today I spoke to two very different friends of mine, both mothers like me with children of the same age.
The first one a homeschooler and strong believer in homeopathy was just telling me she hadn’t taken any kind of pills in at least five years. Her boy, the picture of health, is likewise treated with teas and herbal remedies. We had a relaxed chat about the classes our sons are taking and how much they like the foreign languages teacher.
The other friend phoned me while on her way to the hospital, where her own boy is being pumped full of antibiotics for what started as an annoying pain somewhere in the back of the head. Not even constant pain, just random shots of pain with no other symptoms of anything being wrong. They live in the US where the system is happy to oblige with many tests, but nothing came up. No diagnostic, no response to a standard cure of antibiotics and steroids, so it was decided to have the boy admitted to hospital for IV treatment, although the doctors have made it clear it might not help since they don’t know what’s bothering the child. My friend gave me a brief description of the situation, including the severe allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics, then went on to tell me about the rest of their problems, the many tests the girls have to take this week and the grades and so on and so forth.

I’ve known both women for a long time, they’re more or less my own age, have had a similar education, with a college degree and decent jobs, they each had health issues in the past - yet they couldn’t be more different. The question is why the first one managed to make a clean break from the system, while the other allows herself to be enslaved to the system and be miserable - seriously, I hear the same complaints every time we talk. How come that one chose to walk away from the beaten path and the other keeps trudging on? As far as I know, the first one has not had any divine revelation or visitation from the Holy Spirit - she chose to think for herself, do her research and find out what works for her and her family. The other chose to do as she’s told and follow the orders blindly. Even it this latest medical drama, when her maternal instincts were telling her there’s no need for shock treatment as the child was otherwise fine, she nevertheless gave in and took the child to the ER as per the doctor’s order.
As much as I’m sorry for that little boy currently hooked to an IV, I know there’s no helping these people who refuse to see what’s in front of them and think for themselves. If they don’t want to think for themselves there’s nothing you can tell them, they won’t listen.

At this point, I must confess that it was that homeschooling friend of mine whose example I took a few years ago. Thing is I had already done my own thinking, I knew my daughter was unhappy in school - I just didn’t have the courage to take what seemed a dramatic step, especially as homeschooling is not quite legal around here. I’m not the preaching type so I don’t go around telling people to follow my example, yet you’d expect my obvious lack of worries about school and tests to have my other friend thinking. Consider the possibility that life could be different. But then, as I was saying in another post, that would mean assuming some responsibility for your life and the lives of your children.
Odd coincidence - late last night early this morning while my US friend was sending me updates on her son, I was worrying over my own boy, who had another bout of fever. As there are few medicines he would accept, I didn’t give him anything, just a cold compress to bring the fever down a little. And for a moment I did feel bad, wondering maybe I’m not doing enough for my son, that’s not how a mother should behave… All I have is my own experience and judgement, I know he’ll be fine (he is, actually). He’ll probably be fine with his lack of formal education, too, I know @honeydue is - but that’s a lot of responsibility you have to assume.

Thanks for reading

Images: 1, 2.