The Safety Net: Nature Vs Nurture

In today’s world, we are surrounded by both natural and artificial things. Back in the day, when technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now, our forefathers survived strictly on natural products. When they fell sick, they made use of herbs and roots. Compared to today, their methods may not be as effective but at least it worked for them. All the food they ate was completely from the soil, with no artificial ingredients added to the processing. However, the reverse is the case in this 21st century. The food we eat comes from the soil, but most of it is altered in one way or the other either to make it grow faster or to quicken the ripening process. This happens even with vegetables, fruits and crops. Market women use an artificial/ chemical substance called carbide to quicken the ripening process of plantains which is very dangerous to the health.

This brings me to today’s Hive Learners’ prompt: Is Natural Right? There seems to be a very tough competition between natural products and artificial products, and in the past years, it seems artificial products have taken the lead. Is natural always best? Because something is artificial, does that make it the wrong choice? Do you agree with those who feel we should only make use of natural things in our day to day lives?

To start with, most of the artificial products we have today cause damage to our health. From soap to cream and even food. Sometimes, whenever people fall sick or get certain diseases, we wonder about the source, but the truth is that some of them are as a result of the things we consume. When I was in 200 level, my roomate and I were using the same kind of soap, but when it finished we had to buy another one; not the same brand, but another type. From the outside, it looked perfectly okay, but after using it for about 3 days, we started noticing dark spots and rashes on our skin. At first we didn’t think it was the soap, but we figured it out after tracing our steps. Because artificial products are bad, does that mean we should completely avoid them and only use natural products? Definitely not! We just have to be careful not to buy the wrong ones.

While I think natural products are better than artificial ones, I also think that there is no harm in using artificial products as long as the companies producing them are reliable. Growing up, whenever we fell sick, my mom would treat us using drugs and injections, never natural medicine. And every time, it worked well for us. On the other hand, I had a neighbor whose parents treated him using herbs and roots every time. Every morning, he morning, he would drink herbal concoctions and they always seemed to work for him. This is proof that both artificial and natural products are good as long as they come for reliable sources.

More importantly, just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is safe to use. An experience my grandmother had confirmed this. My granny is a diabetic patient. Every now and then, she blends leaves like bitter leaf and scent leaf. She enjoys drinking them because they help wash her system. Soemtimes, she would dry pawpaw leaf, scent leaf, bitter leaf and some other things and them together. She had been living her life this way for years until recently when an old friend of hers recommended a plantain bud. Plantain bud is that purple thing that grows at the end of a plantain bunch. It has multiple layers like an onion.

According to the friend, this plant part helps wash excess sugar from the body. So, my granny cooked it and drank the water. I wasn't around that day, but my mom said it was really scary. My grandmother started sweating profusely, and it was as if her body was burning from the inside.

As much as natural products are good, we have to be careful of the ones we use. Not everything is good. This same thing applies to artificial products. Not all are good. In fact, a larger percentage of these products are dangerous, we just have to make sure we buy from reliable sources and carry out proper research.

Images in this post are mine.

Thanks for reading.