DOCTORS..VENDORS....LABOR DAY THOUGHT

Since mankind lived in caves thousands of years before writing and language skills developed there existed the "healer", "witchdoctor", "medicine man", "shaman" or any one of a thousand other names that person may have been called...most of them long since forgotten over the eons since they walked and practiced what we today call medicine. They were individuals in a tribe or clan that had the secret knowledge passed onto them from their father or mother; in a true sense ...a family affair that continued as long as that family continued to exist. When the family died out that line of healing died out with it. Their skills were composed of many parts: mysticism, religion, observation of nature and the creatures around them and to some extent experimentation and magic and common sense. These skills though ancient and seemingly crude serviced mankind for thousands of years and apparently worked to some degree to get us through in spite of their inadequacies.

With the advancement of mankind and writing came the codification of all this knowledge passed on (verbally) over the ages; much of it nonsense and some of it true. Science as we understand it only began about 500 t0 600 years ago with observation of the world around us and gradually the scientific method evolved which involved theories and experimentation to verify the theory (hypothesis).

Today the healer of yesterday is called doctor or physician or even more recently denigrated to the level of a "vendor" and in that vending machine delivering an item or service. I personally would rather be called a "healer", "shaman" or anyone of multiple other terms lost to antiquity than a "vendor". The family of the ancient "healer" has now become the corporation which controls it's "vendors" by owning and controlling it's vending machines....hospitals, clinics, emergent care centers and anyone of many other entities. They are generally run and controlled by MBAs and accountants and laymen (business men) with their own agendas...not necessarily the same healing ones of the doctor...oh excuse me... the "vendor". This has been called progress. I sometimes wonder if it is progress in the right direction and with the correct people at the helm. If the people want a Walmart mentality servicing their health they will get the service they deserve.

In the last century or so we have seen more changes in medicine than have occurred in thousands of years. Let us not change it so much that the human element, the person to person connection along with the compassion is lost forever for then we who are "healers" will be forever delegated to the realm of "vendor" and the "vending machine" will take us into the future. A terrifying thought to me.