By Robert Field
The following is from an obituary published in the New York Times:
“Dr. Philip Majerus, Among the First to Discern Aspirin’s Heart Benefits, Dies at 79
“ Philip W. Majerus, a biochemist who was credited as being the first to theorize that taking small doses of aspirin regularly can prevent heart attacks and strokes in vulnerable patients, died on June 8 at his home in St. Louis. He was 79…
“ ‘Late one afternoon, I looked in the St. Louis phone directory for aspirin and found a company in town, Rexall, that made aspirin tablets,” Dr. Majerus recalled in 1978. “I called after hours, and a man answered the phone. I explained what I wanted: 100 bottles of 100 tablets containing 160 MG aspirin and the same number of bottles of a matched placebo. The man said he could make them without any problem, and he delivered them to my lab the next morning at no charge.’ ”
The generous and quick cooperation seems surprising today? But this is the way things used to be done. There was a sense that we were all part of trying to make a better world. If we could do something to help the public cause, we jumped to it. And others expected nothing less.
Today, even when one of us oldsters is willing to pick up much of the tab for a huge benefit to society, efforts are blocked by petty politics and self interests. Moreover, those who know better, may remain mute on the sidelines. (We never know what is going on behind the scenes.)
I would hate to think it would take another world war or depression to restore to our nation a sense of togetherness and cooperation, instead of self interests and pettiness.
Another war or depression may not due it. The uber rich would go right on eating well and not be a member of any army.
The fabric of the society we once knew has been torn and is not repairable.
Well, there were people who wanted to change everything, and then they did begin to change everything, to “progress”.
Our choices were between just going along with them and watch out nation go down the tubes, or resist them and be less “cohesive”.
So a company that manufactures (and sells) aspirins donated a couple cases of product to a guy who was trying to prove that we should all take aspirin every day. Sounds like a basic, inexpensive investment to me. Not sure I’d consider it some happy hippy love moment.
EDITOR: They made a case of placebos to special order and shipped a case of regular aspirin and placebo the next day. It typifies the sense of willingness to join in efforts for the common good. Can you imagine that happening on a one day turn around today?
Editor, Yes, I can. That’s why I made the comment.
I work for a major manufacturer. Vendors who want to sell us something–who can see a potential profit–frequently “donate” things to help us decide what we want to invest in. They may give us equipment to test, then provide technical support–technicians who actually come on site to help us configure the equipment. A few months ago, Google gave us 50 top-end Samsung phones. No cost–they were ours to keep–but they wanted us to try out “Google for Work” for a month.
As for the placebos in this example, that’s no big deal. They were set up to produce tablets and all you do to make the placebos is leave out the acetylsalicylic acid. What’s left–the inactive ingredients like carnauba wax, corn starch and powdered cellulose–is a placebo.
The gesture was nice. But I don’t see any more “sense of togetherness” than among most salespeople today.
EDITOR: I don’t doubt what you say, but the fact still remains there a cooperativeness for the public good that we do not have today. I know because I was there.