Sick on the Orient Express Once, an inquisitive westerner boarded a train: the Orient Express. This individual had grown up in Scotland, a little while north of Glenn Coe. His family was very wealthy. He was a baby fed with a silver spoon. As a child, his leisure time was spent roaming the moors with his best friend James, who lived across the way at Skyfall. When the sun slipped down past the hills and the moors became more dangerous than beautiful, the boy would return home for supper and an evening of reading. His father had a huge collection of books and diaries, the majority about the Far East. The boy’s grandfather had been a wealthy tradesman who had traveled extensively. The boy would pour over these old volumes, although he could not read many that were written in strange, foreign languages. He developed an insatiable curiosity for the East and wished with his whole heart to travel there himself.
Traveling to the East As the boy grew into a man, this appetite for the East did not die. Even as he assumed control of his father’s trade company and became far too busy for such daydreaming, the fanciful images of the East haunted his dreams. On his twenty-sixth birthday, he decided he had had enough. He would entrust the management of his father’s company to his subordinate, a young technician named Scotty (quite the sci-fi fanatic) and leave for the Orient. After arriving in Pairs, he purchased a ticked on the Orient Express. He did not sleep the first two days out of pure exhilaration. The night before his departure, he visited one last European pub, wandered the cold, damp streets until morning and shaking with anticipation, boarded that legendary train. Unfortunately, the combination of his excitement and his nighttime wanderings proved a bit stronger than his health. He developed a cold that developed into a serious illness. At a brief stop in Mongolia, he staggered out of the train in hopes that the fresh, oriental air would do him good. An old, withered woman who had watched him collapse on a train station bench approached him, offering him an herbal tea. The young man’s curiosity overcame his scruples of taking unknown foreign remedies and he cautiously sipped the brew. Within minutes, he was sitting up strait, wiping away the cold sweat from his face. It was incredible. These leaves had worked a miracle that none of his western medicines could.
A New Life Goal He continued on his journey, collecting other Eastern herbs and concoctions to take back home. That historical trip changed the face of European medicine. He converted his father’s company from tobacco to herbal medicine. His company has since developed into, herbal production, maternity health coverage, and college student health insurance. His online site now provides a list of herbal remedies that are sure to cure. This has been the story of a boy whose dreams led to the solution of many illnesses, injuries, and broken dreams. Photo Credit: Simon Pielow, louis.foecy.fr