That which is Not Hype & Hypocrisy

Who put the hype & hypocrisy in hypoglycemia?  Maybe just maybe it all began with the late night infomercial.  I am kidding yet within humor often we find shreds of truth also.  In our home we refer to the infomercial as marketing trickery.  There are promises contained within the messages delivered to all of us via our tv, radio, and other forms of media.  We are neck deep in the messages & we get to decide what is truth & fiction.  One of the funniest late night infomercials that I can think of was about a real estate mogul who was filmed in a huge yacht with voluptuous bikini clad women smiling on either side of him.  The mogul looks in the camera & tells us that we can have it all including unlimited wealth if we simply purchase his do it yourself get rich quick book.  Night has met day since infomercials are no longer reserved for the insomnia crowd.  We get bombarded all day long too with promises galore via day time commercials.  A huge wave has hit in the form of diabetes prescription drug commercials I have noticed.  During a one hour long program I counted 3 different diabetes drug commercials.  They are some of the strangest commercials though.  On the one hand we are shown that we can get our lives back by taking the newest drug on the market to combat diabetes yet in the last few seconds of the commercial we are warned that if we decide to take the medication that the drug may cause anything from minor tummy aches to kidney failure & death.  Wow!  I get it that our society has fallen into a litigious one & most companies and agencies tell us that we will have to take on all the risk.  For sure there are countless medications being flogged for a variety of chronic illnesses yet no sign of cures for anything in this millennium so far.  The commercials that I am referencing were all for type 2 diabetes & while none of them are suitable in treatment of the type 1 that I live with my heart goes out to everyone living with any form of diabetes.  We are faced with choices about what type of risk we are willing to take on.  For me it is a little simpler I guess because I know that I have to take on the risks involved with taking insulin in micro doses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Insulin has the capacity to treat high blood sugar in the magic dose for individuals with type 1 diabetes.  In the wrong dose, (and the dose as we all know is a dancing target pinned to a jello tree outside in 90 degree Fahrenheit weather), insulin has the potential to be deadly.  Most people not living with diabetes don’t get that at all.  They do not get that insulin is a risk reward decision.  Without insulin I will die.  It makes the decision pretty easy.  I tend to do a lot of glucose tests each day though because I know from personal experience that the myriad of factors that affect blood sugar can lead to a hypoglycemic emergency at any time of the day or night.  That is not hype.  Insulin saves lives but it is not the cure.  How many times have you tried to share that statement with others around you?  Somehow people seem to share the belief that insulin is the cure to type 1 diabetes.  That is complete balderdash.  Insulin keeps us alive & as a community we hope for a cure.  I hope for a cure too but honestly I am not counting on one in my lifetime.  I am an optimistic realist.  If we buy into the message from the drug companies that they are working on the cure we may also want to consider the profit flowchart.  Life sustaining medications, therapies and products to treat diabetes are a billion dollar industry.  Who is more likely to be committed to working on a cure for diabetes or other autoimmune diseases?  There are plenty of answers to that question.  My thought is that a scientist who either has the autoimmune disease or has a child with it.  Profit then exits the equation.  Most of us would agree that it is gut wrenching to watch a loved one suffer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with a chronic illness. 

Hypocrisy gives me an allergic reaction metaphorically speaking.  It drives me up and down the wall to receive a message from anyone at all that is filled with hypocrisy.  A feisty rascal is sure to emerge in the presence of hypocrisy.  I don’t buy the layers of untruth.  Hypocrisy & cya appear to me to be twins in many cases.  What is the purpose of hypocrisy?  Is it sometimes for the sake of appearances?  Let’s face it, few companies or people or agencies wish to be seen or perceived as heartless bullies, profit focused at the cost of others’ pain & suffering or selfish.  Peeling away layers of hypocrisy may find many of these undesirable realities at the core.  I have zero respect for hypocrites.  For many years I ignored this type of behaviour & got as far away as possible from this.  Sometimes though you can be stuck dealing/interacting with this type of behaviour out of necessity.  In those cases in the past I have tried politely reasoning with the individual.  In most instances it was like banging my head against the wall.  I decided to simply say instead, “that’s not okay.”  It has not scored me any points in those situations however I am no longer willing to smile politely & appear to be okay with nonsense.  It becomes pretty clear to the party trying to sell a bag of flaming dog dew dew that I will not buy what they are selling.  There are a few things that contributed to me getting to the answer of “that’s not okay” when being presented with the flaming paper bag of dew dew.  This would include:  having some feisty family role models, getting to a point in my life where I found my advocating voice, the magnification of living with diabetes & 3 other autoimmune diseases and becoming a parent.  Each one of us are beautiful originals so we will each have our own reason to step forward & challenge behaviours, statements & messengers of hypocrisy.  I am certain that I inherited some feisty genes.  Specifically, when I think of the feistiest person that I have ever known it was my Grandma B.  What a character.  She spoke her mind.  A funny example of her giving her uncensored opinion was a time that the reporters from her local community television station went to the downtown area in which she resided.  The reporters were interested in getting opinions from locals about the performance of their town councilors.  My Grandma gave them an uncensored answer while everyone else did not wish to speak to the press about anything.  She also was not shy about challenging any level of bureaucracy.  She was respected & she was the same with everyone.  She stood up for others when they were being unfairly treated.  It took me a good long while to become an advocate for anything.  As I have shared countless times I was painfully shy as a young girl.  My voice emerged in a significant way a few months before we welcomed the birth of our first son.  It is a very good thing that happened because there has been a huge need for advocation on behalf of our sons over the years within the education system particularly surrounding the bullying epidemic permitted within some schools. Add in type 1 diabetes entering my life followed by 3 other autoimmune diseases & a bolder, braver advocate developed.  It is basically as simple as this.  When you have to fight for your life every single day there is not much room for complete nonsense in the day.  You can sweep nonsense under the carpet or identify it, pick it up & discard it.  It is a choice.  Maybe it is a feisty rascally choice.  It is a choice that demands one to get rid of the “what will others think of me if I challenge this untruth?”  It gets replaced with “does this matter enough to stand up to and for?”  If we are advocating for a loved one or a person who is vulnerable/unable to speak up for himself or herself then the decision is pretty clear.  Life is not an infomercial.  It is far from that.  My life is a beautiful mess for sure.  Some days are tough.  We are tough too.  Tough is a choice I have come to learn.  I refuse to buy into smoke & mirrors.  It was Margaret Mead who said that “a small group of people can change the world.”  That is not hype or hypocrisy.  That is something else that starts with an “h” & that is hope. 

Balance is important.  Gratitude I have found is essential to me.  While I don’t for a second buy into the infomercials promising a perfect life if I purchase a given product (especially where diabetes medications & therapies are concerned) I remain grateful.  The thankfulness is directed to a gentleman who grew up about a 45 minute drive from where I grew up.  I am referring of course to the late Sir Frederick Banting.  A small town boy grew up on a farm in a geographical area that remains a small town yet he is saving lives to this day through his co development of insulin.  He did not earn huge profits as a result of this.  I am thankful every single day that I get to take these micro doses of insulin to stay alive.  I am not waiting for a cure.  I am instead living my life with bumps along the way helping to raise 3 beautiful, noisy sons.  Some days are especially tough with the curve balls that type 1 especially serves up but I am thankful beyond measure to wake up each morning.  I am thankful that I live in a corner of the world that has accessibility to insulin & other life sustaining therapies & medications. And I am thankful that I get the choice to speak up for what is true & challenge smoke & mirrors.  Let’s call it feisty gratitude.

My heart’s hope for you is that the hype & hypocrisy that resides within the world does not get to you.  May you meet it with the question “does this matter enough to stand up to?”  May you also know that you are as tough as you decide to be.  We are also as kind & compassionate as we choose to be when we offer to stand up for others that have not yet found their feisty voice.

Smiles,  Saundie  :)

Have a gentle week.  Next Monday's story is in the usual creative ether.