Trying to Supply Some Common Sense

This is a post today elsewhere, trying to help a couple of clueless guys who are far from being able to help themselves. They are so conspicuously and consistantly obtuse that I had avoided the thread as a lost cause. I won't say "casting pearls before swine." Pigs are actually very smart creatures. ...and if I had not been taught to eat the bellies of pigs very young, I would probably never do it. As it is, my consumption of swine is way down, and I may eventually get it down to zero. At that point I will confine myself to hunting and exposing human swine only.

The post:

I bit my knuckles and stayed away from this thread. Then two friends showed up, (treesandflowers and bunnie) and I'm tempted to remark "What are two nice girls like you doing in a place like this?" But of course the answer is, you are both trying to help.

Let's take a look at what we know. Both of you are in the category of what I will refer to as "long posters." That is to say, if you feel you have something worthwhile to say, you will go to some effort and care to say it well. Judging by the lengths of your short responses here on this thread, your instincts like mine are kicking in and saying, these people need professional help, or a small helping of good old fashioned common sense.

If I am not mistaken, one of the other posters was elsewhere recommending the ingestion of colloidal silver by a pregnant woman. (This by a fellow who calls himself a science teacher). This sort of "science" is perhaps part of what is wrong in the teaching in some of our schools. Another example would be the attempt to add "creationism science" to the curriculum to "balance" the "unreasonable scientism" we have been forcing down the gullets of our young ones.

My younger son had a science teacher who one day taught the class that it was acceptable and safe to shine dimes with a bit of mercury by rubbing it on them with your fingers.My son jumps up and challenges this concept before the whole class, pointing out that if you shine a dime in this way, as the dime gets shiny, the mercury on your fingers gets black. He pointed to the teacher's fingers to illustrate. I believe the teacher was actually going to let some of the children try shining some dimes.

My kid told me about the incident at the end of the day. I frowned. He said "Was I wrong?" I told him that sometimes being right is not all that counts. He was puzzled by that. I went on to explain that he did the right thing in the wrong way and it will come back to haunt him.

Here is the point. My son, clever little tyke that he was, wanted his classmates to know about the danger: That the black on the teacher's fingers was mercury that had so finely divided that it was no longer in shiny little globules, so finely divided that some of it could even get absorbed right through the skin and into bloodstream, or get residues on the sandwich the teacher would be eating for lunch.

My boy was right to want to be sure the rest of the class knew this. But he was also "showing off." (I have never been able to figure out where he got that from. His mom I expect. She was always a rather flamboyant character.)

Better would have been if he had asked the teacher for a private moment, discussed it with him, and then gave the teacher the opportunity to revise and extend his remarks. It wasn't until the end of the year that the payback came.

My son was flunked with a B+ instead of an A. He was really steamed up about it. He KNEW he deserved an A! I asked if he still wanted the A. His answer was a vehement YES. Ready to fight for it? He blurted out the military vernacular equivalent for affirmative which he was not usually allowed to say, but which he had heard me use on numerous occasions when emphasis was required.

So I helped him plan his strategy and acted as his Second in a conference with the teacher and the Principal. And in the process, my son learned a bit about how to win by other means than direct attack. He did not entirely win his fight for the A. He just got the A- that he deserved (lack of diplomacy and consideration).

(And his failure in that regard is probably due in large part to a certain enthusiasm for confrontation and lively discussion that he may have gotten from one of his close relatives.)

But getting back to what is so conspicuously absent in this thread. There is not the slightest thought that maybe the whole spectrum of general health considerations, like good nutrition or adequate rest or even the emotions might be playing a role in the problem.

Instead, just glob on some coal tar or dozens of other topical substances, many of which have serious and unpredictable side-effects. And in this, doctors are, as often as not, a part of the problem. Try using some careful reasoning and thought about your general health, making your whole body better. Your skin is integral to your body. The first healing must be from within. So look at all the features of your general health and correct as many of them as you can. If that hasn't helped after six months or so, then consider going to someone for additional help.