Could now be the time that “society” is now starting to stand up and speak the truth about the dangers of prescriptions drugs and medications?
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have a new album one the way and last night they unveiled a powerful song that has millions talking.
“Kevin” is a serious song about the perils of prescription pill addiction, name-checking the likes of Adderall and Xanax. And for the chorus, retro R&B crooner Leon Bridges snagged the spotlight for a somber guest part. “Put down the pen and look in my eye,” Bridges sang.
The song focused on a character that dons the song’s title as his name. Like most great concept songs, Kevin is representing something bigger than just his own story of prescription drug addiction, extrapolating a message about the American dream.
“Doctor please give me a dose of the American dream / Put down the pen and look in my eye,” Bridges sings on the chorus.
Powerful!
Don’t think this song is reality based? Check out this story posted by Dr. Patrick Gentempo on his Facebook page.
The Story of Little “Kevin”
Little Kevin was born in the hospital. His mother was given medications to “assist” her in the process. The drugs slowed her contractions and as a result, it was recommended by the experts that a caesarian be performed as to not risk the damage that a protracted delivery may cause. The motions around Kevin’s mother became frantic, and after cutting her open, they grabbed Little Kevin’s necks and twisted and pulled. There was great concern in getting him out. There was little concern about the excess physical, chemical, and emotional stresses caused by the process.
When Little Kevin was an infant, he “caught” a cold. The people who loved and care about him the most put a medication formula in his bottle and smiled as he drank it because they felt assured that he would now get better.
At five years of age, Little Kevin fell off his bike, scraped his arm and “twisted” his neck. The people who love and care about him the most, his parents, cleaned his wounds and gave him two St. Joseph’s aspirin. They smiled warmly and explained to him that now he would be fine and that the pain in his neck would be made better by the aspirin.
At nine years of age, Little Kevin was playing little league football. Going through the line, he took a hard hit to the helmet. He came off the field complaining of neck pain. The next morning, he woke up with a scratchy throat and congestion, his neck still sore. The parents felt reassured because now he was old enough for Junior Tylenol. How wonderful, they thought, that their boy was getting old enough to have more medications available for use when necessary. The people who loved and care about him the most gave him the drugs, feeling good because their fears were laid to rest as they helped their boy.
At 12 years of age, that same sore throat and congestion came back. However, this time the Junior Tylenol didn’t work. Kevin’s symptoms persisted. So now the people who loved and cared for Kevin the most took him to the person they respected the most in such matters, they guy or gal in the white coat, the pediatrician. The pediatrician did a very thorough evaluation of Kevin, talked to his parents, and then gave Kevin drugs.
Kevin’s experience for his entire life has been when he felt bad, the people who loved and care about him the most gave him drugs. The people we respect the most as having the greatest amount of knowledge in these matters gave him drugs.
Now Kevin is 16 years old and in high school. He doesn’t make the basketball team and the girl he likes rejects him. He feels bad. What has been his training and programming his entire life? And we can’t understand why the youth of our nation take drugs when we’ve programmed them to do it their entire lives.
The average 18 year old in the USA has seen 20,000 hours of drug commercials! Imagine the contradictions we feed our children as they are taught to “just say no” to drugs, while we feed drugs to them in record proportions. We are not winning the drug war in this country, nor shall we, as long as the culture persists in such a way. To paraphrase Einstein, “You cannot resolve problems with the same level of thinking that existed when the problem was created.” We have a problem. What is your level of thinking?
How many “Kevin’s” do you see walking around your community? Perhaps Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are right; we need to change society and get away from all of the drugs and prescriptions.
