The Cost Of Life

In our society there must always be a cost for everything even if it is the most precious thing there is. Voltaire touches this issue here: "'How can I be cured?' said Pangloss, 'I haven't a penny, my dear friend and there is not a doctor in all this wide world who will bleed your or purge you without a fee'" (31). Public health is something that is rather recent and I find this prove that Voltaire was ahead of his time. Such an issue shows in a subtle but clear way demonstrates that such a thing has always been present. It isn't, as many people believe, that doctors are heartless for denying care to patients who are in need (as Voltaire seems to insinuate in this part) but rather it is the cost of their own survival that doctors charge for. It is true that most doctors won't work without a fee but there is a reason for this. If you want someone to work for free then all must be given for that same price. Sadly, we are far from that utopian thought.

This image that Voltaire wants to give about doctors being cruel isn't right. What I do agree with is that the situation depicted there is very sad. Sadly it is though medicine that the price we have given to life becomes the most obvious but this doesn't mean that this is the only place where it exists. It is the sum many different situations we have created. Society has placed a price on everything and all people must pay a price for it. Doctors are sadly placed on a very uncomfortable position since the "product" they offer is the health of others. It isn't their fault that society gives it the label of product and there for a price. The same happens with food and all other essential things some might not have an access to. Could Voltaire be trying to raise these kinds of thoughts when he wrote that?