"Let's talk about the REAL problem..."

In the summer of 1982, A friend of mine was hiking in the Sierra Nevadas, when his hiking partner told him to look out for the patch of poison ivy he was just about to step into. My friend, being the commensurate outdoorist, protested vehemently that it was NOT poison ivy. After all, he had made an exhaustive study of every type of irritant plant that lived in the area. To show his hiking partner, he immediately rubbed a handful of leaves from the aforementioned plant on his arm. To his shock and dismay, his studies had apparently not been complete. The burning was rather akin to poison ivy. As might be guessed, it was INDEED a variety of poisonous plant that he was not familiar with.

As poison ivy is never a fun experience, my friend decided to visit the closest emergency room for a touch of weekend medical assistance. The doctor who was on the ER rotation came into the cubicle where my friend was sitting. The doctor looked at him for about ten seconds, asked the nurse to get some Tecnu scrub, and then said the words that would change his life...

"Let's talk about the real problem".

The "real problem" that my friend was facing, which to the doctor was referring, was indeed not the self inflicted poison ivy burn. My friend had an extreme case of cystic acne, sometimes referred to as cystic boils. He had lived with this horrible condition since his teenage years. Imagine acne times ten. He could not put a fifty cent piece anywhere on his body, and not have it touch an eruption. The doctor looked at the marks on my friend's body and was able to see the remnants of assorted treatments that had been completely unsuccessful. This man was a dermatologist of no small standing. He described to my friend the treatments that he must have received (completely correct in every case) and asked him about the length and severity of his condition. He then asked my friend if he would like to be part of a study for a new medication indicated for conditions such as my friend suffered from. My friend had tried everything else, what could it hurt?

The medication that he recieved was called Accutane. He was the fourth person in the world to receive this now ubiquitous medication. His condition had completely disappeared in three weeks and has not resurfaced to this day.

THe ER doctor COULD have just ordered the Tecnu scrub and called it good. After all, it took care of the problem, didn't it? The patient had come in for poison ivy burns, so poison ivy burn treatment with Tecnu will take care of the problem, right? (BTW, the Tecnu DID take care of the poison ivy. It's great stuff for that). This is how we are, as a society, treating the horrific murderous rampages that are becoming all too common. We are looking for an easy fix. We are looking for the Tecnu scrub, instead of looking at "the real problem". We aren't looking for the Accutane. And the Tecnu scrub (or not entirely effective solution for all that's going on) in this case is firearms.

Let me be clear, I do not own guns. I am not a member of the NRA. I do not hunt. I am not a shooting sports enthusiast, though I do like to go shooting from time to time. But banning guns is not the answer to the Real Problem. I do find it interesting that the most commonly used tool in violent crimes is NOT a gun, but a baseball bat, very closely followed by large screwdrivers. I have never heard an outcry for Louisville Slugger to pay the damages when someone murders someone else with one of their well crafted sporting implements. Nor do we see Home Depot being picketed for selling the insidious, horrifying, MURDERING screwdriver. As ridiculous as this may seem, it is equally ridiculous to say that firearms are the problem. Firearms are inanimate objects, with no will or volition of their own. They are no more likely to kill someone by jumping up and shooting them, as it is likely that one will be viciously attacked by screwdrivers that jump off the shelf, when one is walking down the hand tools aisle at the local home improvement store.

We need to instead of looking at the temporary, immediate "fix", deal with the Real Problem in these senseless, violent crimes. We need to look for the accutane. We need to address the emasculated, broken healthcare system in our nation, and why it is so hard for those suffering with mental illness to get the care that they so desperately need. Let's not look at the guns. Let's look at the mental health care in our country, and what we can do to help those who need it.