Most people who go into their doctor's office come out with a prescription, or "scrip" for short. Sometimes this word is wrongly rendered as "script," but that's a term better reserved for the ubiquitous Big Pharma commercials you see on television all the time, most of them ending with the ludicrous injunction: "Ask your doctor if [this latest drug] is right for you!" Fortunately, my own doctor is not the sort to hand out little purple pills (or any other kind of medication) like candy. Instead, he encourages lifestyle changes (along with natural supplements, detox programs, and anti-inflammatory diets) to encourage your body to heal itself. I recently saw a documentary, sponsored by one of the two alternative health centers in town, entitled Escape Fire; it explored the reasons why our American health care system is such a tragic mess and how it might be turned around. After the film there was a Q&A with local practitioners and college professors; author Richard Kirsch (Fighting for Our Health); and a representative from the progressive supermarket chain Safeway. I really recommend this film, along with another one I've heard good things about called Doctored. There was an amazing moment in Escape Fire in which a young veteran who'd fought in Afghanistan held up a plastic bag and dumped out all the prescription pill bottles he had amassed while on tour. Dozens of the little orange bastards skittered across the floor. He was eventually able to get off of them and dramatically reduce his pain (both physical and psychological) through the use of meditation and acupuncture, treatments now offered as part of standard care at Walter Reed Hospital. The typos Manuscrip and Manuscrips were found eight and twelve times apiece in OhioLINK, and 172/192 times in WorldCat.(Lahainaluna Seminary, Hawaii scrip notes, from Flickr.)
Carol Reid
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