And what if they are?

Back in March, I wrote about a chiropractic center that often has anti-medication slogans on its marquee. At the time, I shared a picture of that marquee. It read,

“Pain and sickness are not a drug deficiency.”

My response is, “And what if they are?” For many people, that is the case.

They have changed their sign in a few different directions. But this sentence is back this week. Seeing that sign again recently reminded me of a memory from high school.

For about a year, I babysat intermittently for a family in my neighborhood. One day, after I had spent time with the children, I got a call from their Mom. She had found a pill in the house and wondered whether it belonged to me.

It was an Advil. Nothing especially significant. And granted, I shouldn’t have left medication lying around. I think it had simply fallen out of the bottle.

But what really stayed with me wasn’t the pill itself. It was how quickly her mind spiraled over the possibility that I was someone who took medication. She even voiced the quiet part out loud: “Oh, I was worried that you take medication.”

There wasn’t much curiosity or empathy about whether I might have needed it. There wasn’t gratitude that I had access to something that allowed me to feel better. Instead, there seemed to be concern that perhaps I had some kind of health condition.

I had always cared well for her children. Nothing about that had changed. I remember simply telling her that I had a headache.

That moment never sat quite right with me. Even then, I was beginning to sense that many people have this kind of relationship with medication and the people who need it.

But the truth is that sometimes medication is exactly what people need. It’s exactly what allows people to be present and active in ways they might not otherwise be — whether that’s babysitting children or participating fully in the many ordinary moments of life. Curiosity and compassion have always seemed like a better place to begin.

—Renee Roederer