They Don’t Make a Pill for That…I Asked!
Our five year old son received the diagnosis of mono. The doctor said other viruses could give false positives, but suggested we follow mono restrictions to be on the safe side. Our task was to keep him calm for a ten days: no riding anything that moved, no rough housing, no playing with kids his own age. The doctor returned my sideways glance with a grin. Keep a five year old boy calm for ten days? Crazy! I asked him if they had a pill for that. The doctor just laughed. So I asked if there was a pill
I could take.
Though I was joking, my default setting was to seek an immediate remedy for the imminent inconvenience. If there is one thing we Americans don't want to be, it is to be inconvenienced.
We live in a microwave mentality society. We have drive-thru banking, drive-thru dry cleaning, and drive-thru eating. We are one step away from drive-thru surgery. We used to have drive-thru filling stations...now we have to get out of our cars and pump our own gas. What were we thinking when we allowed all those gas attendants to slip away?
Many of our client's want us to wave a magic wand and make their pain go away or make them walk again. To come down too hard on them would be a tad hypocritical, though. After all, we look for quick fixes, too: in healing from sickness, weight loss, jobs, marriages and parenting. The market is saturated with diet pills. The phone book is replete with cosmetic surgeons and divorce lawyers.
We aren't held accountable anymore for our own actions, in the workplace or on the home front. There is a lot of talk about clients not taking responsibility for their own recovery. Truth is, as a culture, we've allowed accountability and responsibility to silently slip from our modern vernacular.
When it comes to physical healing, we'd rather take a pill than provide our bodies with proper nutrients, rest, and exercise. When it comes to our jobs, we'd rather find a new one than stick it out with imperfect bosses and co-workers. Divorce attorneys advertise in mail out flyer packages because they know there are couples just waiting for someone to promise them immediate relief. Our schools and juvenile detention facilities are full of children whose parents have taught them the art of instant gratification. In what areas of your life have you looked for an easy way out?
Eventually we come to the place where we realize the quick fix is a deceptive illusion that offers fulfillment but leaves only a trail of destruction. If we want our clients to reach their maximum potential, we have to shatter the drive-thru illusion and restore the beauty of hard work and perseverance.