Getting Old Isn't All Bad

Most days, I say or hear --or both-- some reason that getting old sucks.

Last week, I got a bit emotional telling my daughter that I had realized another great thing about aging. The longer I live, the more I realize how much people influenced my life. Often, even though I appreciated everything everyone did for me all along, the significance of their contribution didn't become apparent until much later. The people who brought out the emotions last week were the pharmachists I had worked with at the hospital. And talking about them led to my appreciation of the dietitians, and the poor daughter had to listen to me recount the entire staff because that's what we do in this family. 

One of the benefits of being an employee at the hospital was that I could fill presecriptions while at work, and I got a discount on anything that wasn't covered by my insurance. The added benefit of working with the pharmacists on committees was that I got to know them well enough to ask for advice and they'd either hang around after meetings or join me for lunch and share their knowledge and advice.  

As I went through years of new symptoms, and new diagnoses, and an assortment of doctors trying to guess what to do with me, I discussed every new prescription, in depth, with a pharmacist. Together, the they and I ruled out most of them after weighing benefits against probablity of side effects that would require a new drug to treat it, and more side effects requiring more drugs . . .  

Together, the pharmacy staff and I developed my no drugs unless they are necessary to keep me alive policy. And I found doctors willing to work with me on my terms.

Those pharmacists undoubtedly saved my life. That didn't occur to me until decades later so even if it's possible to track them down and thank them now, they probably don't even remember me.

Tonight, as I loaded my prescriptions into daily dose slots so I will know immediately if I miss a day, I realized it's a good thing I never considered pharmacy as a career choice. I really do hate that chore.

Not being able to remember if I took my meds last night is one of the sucky parts of getting old.

Straaaaaaawberries, Strawberries, Can I Get Them From Amazon?

When I was young, Sealtest paid Mr. Shane to come to our back porch, pick up our empty bottles, and place our standing dairy order into a little cooler provided by the company for this purpose. Another guy came to the front door with huge cans of potato chips and fresh bread. Donaldson, I believe, was the company that provided this. National Food Service came twice a year and stocked the huge freezer and shelves in the basement with meat, cheese, frozen and canned goods, and laundry products. A Fuller Brush guy came to the door with cleaning tools and first aid supplies. In season, a guy walked down the street shouting straaaaawwwwwberries, strawberries and ice cream trucks came by a couple of times a day. I have no idea who Mr. Morris worked for but he showed up about once a month, much like Mr. Haney on Green Acres, with an assortment of things like dishes, sweaters . . . if I had to guess, I'd think maybe a Fingerhut sorta place. And, once a year, the company that sold us the encyclopedias sent someone by to see if we wanted the annual yearbook update of things that happened after our encyclopedia was printed.

A person like me - disabled, poor, unreliable transportation and hips - could almost get everything she needed without leaving home. Wednesday, I bought a birthday gift for Kaia. Today, it was delivered to my door. I could have bought almost anything I want, including all of the grocery items I mentioned above, the same way I bought the birthday gift.

Amazon did NOT take jobs away from Mr. Shane, Mr. Morris, the strawberry man, the Fuller Brush man, or any of these people. Those jobs were gone decades ago because people stopped being at home and wanting the services. Everyone preferred to drive to a bunch of places, supporting Shell, Exxon, BP - and destroying the planet. Now, Amazon (and many others) are providing ways to fix this even for people who aren't at home to answer the door or run out the door as the case may be with the strawberry man and ice cream trucks.

Another company that is far less socially responsible than Amazon ran small businesses out of town decades ago and they still get more praise and business than Amazon, much of it from people demonizing Amazon. 

Shouldn't we at least stop to think who might be behind demonizing them?

I am a fan of Jeff Bezos because and hope to make you wonder why people demonize him, and others jumping right on without researching or thinking. He pays a $15 minimum wage, provides benefits (including tuition), and takes a small salary, despite being one of the wealthiest people on the planet. He thumbed his nose at a blackmailer and stands up to critics. Amazon tells us which other companies offer the same product for less, lets us to one-stop-shopping even if the product will be shipped from another company. There might be something(s) to criticize but not one of them isn't true about many other companies that aren't being constantly scrutinized and demonized, some of whom are not nearly as responsible. Take GE, for example. They get huge tax breaks from cities/states, don't pay their fair share in taxes (if any at all), and instead of increasing wages and jobs, they cut jobs and wages. 

You don't even want to get me started on Humana. 

We  have so many much bigger problems than Amazon. Until we expect the same from every company, I think we need to stop hating on Bezos and Amazon. And even then, I'm not sure there's a reason to hate them.

If nothing else, I promise to make people think.