From: rozeboom2 <sotchiron@...>

Date: February 19, 2006 6:48:53 PM MST

To: SacroOccipitalTechnicForum@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [SacroOccipitalTechnicForum] The Story of Symptoms

Reply-To: SacroOccipitalTechnicForum@yahoogroups.com

There once was a town called Allopath. It had many people, streets 

and cars, but due to budget limitations, there were no stop signs or 

traffic lights anywhere in Allopath. 

Not surprisingly, traffic accidents were common. Cars would crash 

into each other at nearly every intersection. But business was 

booming for the auto repair shops and local hospitals, which 

dominated the economy of Allopath. 

As the population of Allopath grew, traffic accidents increased to an 

alarming level. Out of desperation, the city council hired Doctor 

West, a doctor of the Motor Division (M.D.) to find a solution. 

Dr. West spent days examining traffic accidents. He carried an 

assortment of technical gear -- microscopes, chemical analysis 

equipment, lab gear -- and put them all to work as part of his 

investigation. The townspeople of Allopath watched on with great 

curiosity while Dr. West went about his work, meticulously 

documenting and analyzing each traffic accident, and they awaited his 

final report with great interest. 

After weeks of investigation, Dr. West called the people of Allopath 

to a town meeting for the release of his report. There, in front of 

the city council and most of the residents of Allopath, he announced 

his findings: "Traffic accidents are caused by skid marks." 

As Dr. West explained, he found and documented a near-100% 

correlation between traffic accidents and skid marks. "Wherever we 

find these cars colliding," he explained, "we also find these skid 

marks." 

The town had "Skid Marks Disease," the doctor explained, and the 

answer to the town's epidemic of traffic accidents would, "...require 

nothing more than treating Skid Marks Disease by making the streets 

skid-proof," Dr. West exclaimed, to great applause from the 

townspeople. 

The city paid Dr. West his consulting fee, then asked the good doctor 

to propose a method for treating this Skid Marks Disease. As chance 

would have it, Dr. West had recently been on a trip to Hawaii paid 

for by a chemical company that manufactured roadaceuticals: special 

chemicals used to treat roads for situations just like this one. He 

recommended a particular chemical coating to the city council: 

teflon. 

"We can treat this Skid Marks Disease by coating the roads with 

teflon," Dr. West explained. "The streets will then be skid-proof, 

and all the traffic accidents will cease!" He went on to describe the 

physical properties of teflon and how its near-frictionless coating 

would deter nearly all vehicle skids. 

The city council heartily agreed with Dr. West, and they issued new 

public bonds to raise the money required to buy enough teflon to coat 

all the city's streets. Within weeks, the streets were completely 

coated, and the skid marks all but disappeared. 

The city council paid Dr. West another consulting fee and thanked him 

for his expertise. The problem of traffic accidents in Allopath was 

solved, they thought. Although the cure was expensive, they were 

convinced it was worth it.

But things weren't well in Allopath. Traffic accidents quadrupled. 

Hospital beds were overflowing with injured residents. Auto repair 

businesses were booming so much that most of the city council members 

decided to either open their own car repair shops or invest in 

existing ones. 

Week after week, more and more residents of Allopath were injured, 

and their cars were repeatedly damaged. Money piled into the pockets 

of the car repair shops, hospitals, tow truck companies and car parts 

retailers. 

The town economic advisor, observing this sharp increase in economic 

activity, announced that Allopath was booming. Its economy was 

healthier than ever, and Allopath could look forward to a great year 

of economic prosperity! 

There were jobs to be had at the car repair shops. There were more 

nurses needed at the hospital. "Help wanted" signs appeared all over 

town at the paramedic station, the tow truck shops, and the auto 

glass businesses. Unemployment dropped to near zero. 

But the traffic accidents continued to increase. And yet there were 

no skid marks. 

The city council was baffled. They thought they had solved this 

problem. Skid Marks Disease had been eradicated by the teflon 

treatment. Why were traffic accidents still happening? 

They called a town meeting to discuss the problem, and following a 

short discussion of the problem, an old hermit, who lived in the 

forest just outside of Allopath, addressed the townspeople. "There is 

no such thing as Skid Marks Disease," he explained. "This disease was 

invented by the roadaceuticals company to sell you teflon coatings." 

The townspeople were horrified to hear such a statement. They knew 

Skid Marks Disease existed. The doctor had told them so. How could 

this hermit, who had no Motor Division (M.D.) degree, dare tell them 

otherwise? How could he question their collective town wisdom in such 

a way? 

"This is a simple problem," the hermit continued. "All we need to do 

is build stop signs and traffic lights. Then the traffic accidents 

will cease." 

Without pause, one city council member remarked, "But how can we 

afford stop signs? We've spent all our money on teflon treatments!" 

The townspeople agreed. They had no money to buy stop signs. 

Another council member added, "And how can we stop anyway? The 

streets are all coated with teflon. If we build stop signs, we'll 

waste all the money we've spent on teflon!" 

The townspeople agreed, again. What use were stop signs if they 

couldn't stop their cars anyway? 

The hermit replied, "But the stop signs will eliminate the need for 

teflon. People will be able to stop their cars, and accidents will 

cease. The solution is simple." 

But what might happen if stop signs actually worked, the townspeople 

wondered. How would it affect the booming economy of Allopath? 

Realizing the consequences, a burly old man who owned a local repair 

shop jumped to his feet and said, "If we build these stop signs, and 

traffic accidents go down, I'll have to fire most of my workers!" 

It was at that moment that most of the townspeople realized there own 

jobs were at stake. If stop signs were built, nearly everyone would 

be unemployed. They all had jobs in emergency response services, car 

repair shops, hospitals and teflon coating maintenance. Some were now 

sales representatives of the roadaceuticals company. Others were 

importers of glass, tires, steel and other parts for cars. A few 

clever people were making a fortune selling wheelchairs and crutches 

to accident victims. 

One enterprising young gentleman started a scientific journal that 

published research papers describing all the different kind of Skid 

Marks Diseases that had been observed and documented. Another person, 

a fitness enthusiast, organized an annual run to raise funds to find 

the cure for Skid Marks Disease. It was a popular event, and all the 

townspeople participated as best they could: jogging, walking, or 

just pushing themselves along in their wheelchairs. 

One way or another, nearly everyone in Allopath was economically tied 

to Skid Marks Disease. 

Out of fear of losing this economic prosperity, the townspeople voted 

to create a new public safety agency: the Frequent Drivers 

Association (FDA). This FDA would be responsible for approving or 

rejecting all signage, technology and chemical coatings related to 

the town's roads. 

The FDA's board members were chosen from among the business leaders 

of the community: the owner of the car shop, the owner of the 

ambulance company, and of course, Dr. West. 

Soon after its inception, the FDA announced that Skid Marks Disease 

was, indeed, very real, as it had been carefully documented by a 

doctor and recently published in the town Skid Marks Disease journal. 

Since there were no studies whatsoever showing stop signs to be 

effective for reducing traffic accidents, the FDA announced that stop 

signs were to be outlawed, and that any person attempting to sell 

stop signs would be charged with fraud and locked up in the town 

jail. 

This pleased the townspeople of Allopath. With the FDA, they knew 

their jobs were safe. They could go on living their lives of economic 

prosperity, with secure jobs, knowing that the FDA would outlaw any 

attempt to take away their livelihood. They still had a lot of 

traffic accidents, but at least their jobs were secure. 

And so life continued in Allopath. For a short while, at least. As 

traffic accidents continued at a devastating rate, more and more 

residents of Allopath were injured or killed. Many were left bed-

ridden, unable to work, due to their injuries. 

In time, the population dwindled. The once-booming town of Allopath 

eventually became little more than a ghost town. The hospital closed 

its doors, the FDA was disbanded, and the Skid Marks Disease journal 

stopped printing. 

The few residents remaining eventually realized nothing good had come 

of Skid Marks Disease, the teflon coatings and the FDA. No one was 

any better off, as all the town's money had been spent on the 

disease: the teflon coatings, car parts and emergency services. No 

one was any healthier, or happier, or longer-lived. Most, in fact, 

had lost their entire families to Skid Marks Disease. 

And the hermit? He continued to live just outside of town, at the end 

of a winding country road, where he lived a simple life with no cars, 

no roads, no teflon coatings and no FDA. 

He outlived every single resident of Allopath. He gardened, took long 

walks through the forest, and gathered roots, leaves and berries to 

feed himself. In his spare time, he constructed stop signs, waiting 

for the next population to come along, and hoping they might listen 

to an old hermit with a crazy idea: 

...that prevention is the answer, not the treatment of symptoms.

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