Great Things Gone Wrong - A story to tell your kids

Great things gone wrong is the story of asbestos. This asbestos is a non-metallic mineral that is found throughout the world and that can come in a natural form that looks like it might be a fine white silk.

But how did asbestos come to be such a big part of our human heritage ?

Archeologists can tell you generally how the story evolved by presenting facts based on artifacts located here and there on the planet. This story however takes the art out of artifacts and presents a fictional version that will likely shine a clearer light on the evolution of the use of asbestos in products that have shaped our being and the death of many through what is now called mesothelioma or cancer caused by the inhalation of asbestos particle dust.

This story will not go into the scientific details of how mesothelioma develops and how an entire law society has come to be where people file mesothelioma lawsuits with expert cancer attorneys against companies that have been negligent towards their employees.

This is a story to tell your kids and it is a story of great things gone wrong.

Mud and water and a fire supplied by the Gods themselves were all that the gatherer hunters knew. They kept the fire burning and to be a fire keeper was an honor fit for only the most responsible clansman. Making mud was important and making good mud that could be used to shape objects that might be reused was even more important. Good mud could be used for many things. It was applied to the body as a protective layer against the heat from the sun, or as a repellent against mosquitoes, or as a method of camouflage. Put a little leaf on there somewhere an voila! you have a decent person. Mud made good pottery but not tough pottery. Mud made a hut or a shelter stronger.

The first tribes gathered into villages and the best protection for a village is a mountain that provides protection from the elements. Colliding mountains and monkey hairs might be a better title for this story. But I already told that story.

Asbestos is often found growing in crevasses of granite rock. Some of the asbestos looks like white or grey silk.

This story goes that a man decided to get romantic one day and brought home to his sweetheart a fine tuff of this white non metallic mineral. The mam'm of the house was busy making mud pies. Her mast 'er was however the main fire keeper and after presenting her the gift he went on to tend his fire.

During idle chit chat with her girlfriend she found out that her mast'er was courting another clan girl. This didn't go to well with the mam'm.

In a moment of rage she ran towards the hot fire and threw mud and gift towards the mast'er. It missed luckily and landed in the fire. Quickly he ran to her and explained his actions and...well he slept on the mountain for a few days where he had plenty of time to pick more asbestos.

The fire meanwhile had time to burn itself out. He returned to the village and took the mud cake laden with asbestos out of the fire. Much to his amazement the brick was as solid as stone.

He took more of the asbestos he'd had time to pick on the mountain and quickly made up more bricks and low and behold he and the mam'm had just had a Eureka moment.

This new asbestos mud was amazing. It could be used to make better pottery. It had the ability to keep heat in therefore could be used to build ovens to bake the better clay. Keeping heat in also means keeping cold out therefore this asbestos product could be used as an insulator.

Dang was the mam'm gonna be happy now. They were going to be the richest merchant traders in the valley below the mountain and perhaps even far beyond where the earth ends.

Low and behold their luck wasn't over.

The mam'm did take to the idea of being rich and they got back to sleeping in the same bed but she wanted more. So she came up with the idea that this white silk mineral, non-metallic mineral could be used to make textile strands and so she started making garments of asbestos.

This was such amazing stuff that even Pharoahs' became clients.

Wealth beyond the imagination. That is a product of invention.

And that my good friends is how the story of asbestos began.

However the great wealth that the newly rich had amassed could not repair the damage that their endeavor had caused to their internal organs.

After years of ingesting the dust of asbestos they began showing signs and symptoms of an illness that would much later be diagnosed as a cancer related to ingestion of asbestos particles or mesothelioma.

• changes in bowel habits
• breathlessness
• abdominal mass and pain
• chest wall pain
• hemoptisis
• coughing
• abdominal fluid retention
• pleural effusion
• and so many more

The good shaman could do nothing of it. However the Pharoah sent some white powdered gold but this showed itself as no match for the power of mesothelioma.
With no one to file lawsuits against but themselves there was obviously no need to call in the services of mesothelioma attorneys.
So the story ends that those who discovered the potential of this great insulation source called asbestos that has helped to build societies way into the future died of the same physical ailments that so many others have as we have continued to learn new ways of making things better.
Better or worse.