No doubt there are appropriate times and places to use these medications, but our increasing reliance on them is creating untold suffering of a kind and magnitude we can barely imagine. All because of a blindness that dominates our age -- a blindness that obscures that which every child knows naturally:

We are born with a good side and we have a bad side. And we need to be careful which side we listen to. If we listen to the wrong side, terrible consequences follow.

Epilogue

Toward the end of my son's Boy Scout troop meeting not too long ago, the scoutmaster stood up and used his customary ""Scoutmaster Minute"" to retell the famous story an old Cherokee chief supposedly told his grandson. The chief said:

""A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible battle -- between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, pride, envy, lust, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, lies and cruelty.

""The other wolf stands for honesty, kindness, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, friendship, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

""This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too,"" he added.

The grandson reflected on these words for a minute and then asked his grandfather, ""Which wolf will win?""

The old chief simply replied, ""The one you feed."