By Roy Klein

Ever read Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World? Written in 1932, it’s about a chemically engineered utopian society where citizens take a mood-enhancing drug called Soma (i.e., a “happy pill”) so they’ll be content all the time. One of the author’s points was that perpetual bliss is not a good thing. We also need negative emotions – fear, anxiety, anger, sadness – to make us feel alive.

I have no idea why, but for some reason I suddenly started thinking about that book – which I probably read some 35 years ago – while I was eating breakfast the other morning.

A drug dependent society

Could we ever become a drug dependent society?, I wondered as I swallowed my daily multi-vitamin capsule, downed my daily calcium tablet and chewed my daily vitamin C supplement. Obviously, some drugs are essential to cure or treat disease, but we take others because we’re just too lazy to take care of ourselves. Is that a type of drug abuse?, I mused as I finished my first Krispy Kreme and took a sip of my coffee (with heavy cream) to dissolve the baby aspirin and prescription folic acid pills I take every day to improve my blood chemistry.

Eliminating pill-popping

We could probably eliminate a lot of pill-popping, I thought as I devoured my second Krispy Kreme, simply by eating healthier. As I took my daily cholesterol medication, I reminded myself that diet wasn’t only about reducing total cholesterol levels. Some foods also can help improve the HDL/LDL ratio and lower triglycerides, I realized as I gobbled down the daily prescription niacin medicine that gives me hot flashes but works to improve my HDL/LDL ratio and to reduce my triglycerides.

Fried Foods and Krispy Kreme

And avoiding certain fried foods can prevent dangerous stomach acid, I cogitated as I masticated my last Krispy Kreme along with my daily prescription acid-blocker. Exercise can help, too, I opined as I contemplated my upcoming day – sitting in front of a computer screen for ten hours.

Side effects

While finishing my coffee, I realized that I didn’t want to end up like one of those old people who take a zillion pills a day. Some of those medicines are probably designed just to treat the side effects of the other medicines they take, I speculated as I took the daily prescription anti-inflammatory drug designed to treat the side effects of some of my other medicines.

Daily Happy Pill

All this thinking was giving me a headache, so I took a couple of ibuprofin capsules. I concluded that if we were all just a little more vigilant, we could ensure that our society never would become like Huxley’s Brave New World. Then I took my daily anti-depressant (i.e., “happy pill”).

I still can’t figure out why I started worrying about Brave New World in the first place. But you know what? I really don’t care. Because it just doesn’t bother me any more. <<

For other articles by Roy Klein visit his website www.RoyKlein.com. For further information on Roy visit the websites for his law practice (Loorak.com) and his arbitrator/mediator practice (Limacs.org).