At the Madikwe reserve in the far northwest of South Africa near the Botswana boarder I had the opportunity to observe the animals of the high Veldt in their natural habitat. These animals roam freely and live by the law of the land – they know that they either kill or flee or be killed. They receive no assistance in getting their daily food from anyone.
What is interesting is that even though they have to fend for themselves they factor in the presence of humans as being benign observers because humans are not in their equation of day-to-day survival. This results in people being able to observe the lions and large predators from close range in vehicles without sides or doors and even people sitting on the seats mounted on the front wheel arches of the vehicle.
There has never been an attack on the people in Madikwe as the vehicles filled with people don’t have a history of giving or owing the lions anything.
By contrast, there is a game park zoo down the road in Johannesburg, at which they feed their animals from a truck. The lions have lost the ability to seek out and kill their prey. The animals are dependant upon the handouts that come from the vehicles that drive through their enclosures every day.
People drive through this park in cars and It is not uncommon here for lions to savage people if they get half a chance. Recently a lion killed a person who wound down the window of her car. The reason for this is that the lions are dependant upon men to feed them. They can no longer feed themselves. This being the case they will strike out at any person in a vehicle, as they equal food.
I see the parallel to this scenario as the ongoing push by chiropractors to gain more and more access into the Health Care System purse.
Using the excuse that people deserve access to chiropractic and that the public purse should pay for it is a lame one in my opinion. The more that our profession is ‘hand fed’ the more it will feel an entitlement to this process and the less it will be able to stand on its own. The money flow will change and control the profession. The money flow will dictate what and how we do what we do. The money flow will dictate the fate of the profession if we keep this strategy up.
When you as a chiropractor provide great solutions for what people are seeking and deliver them in an exquisite way the public will beat a path to your door.
Be independent, be proud and live by the law of the land.
