Jack felt that his life had little point; that is no matter what he did he wouldn't be able to ever achieve any goal, any benefit to society. He would often go to a nearby park and marvel at the age and stature of the magnificent trees there and would feel inspiration in their ultimate indifference to the wind.
Jack remembers the day when he realized what he needed to do. He acknowledged that he had a power to heal but it really didn't seem to make a difference to him whether he actually healed or just traded one calamity for another in their lives. So Jack decided to become a chiropractor.
He stepped out into a fine May spring morning and enrolled in the college across town. His mother was pleased since she was going to be able to call her son a doctor and was already wondering if it mean she would be more popular at the golf club. His father fretted over the cost but Jack got a nice job as a shoe salesman at a nearby store where he was talented at hawking their poor footwear. It made for a fine life as a student—studying spinal conditions during the weekdays and causing them selling cheap footwear on the weekends. He made enough money to cover most of his tuition while he continued to live at home.
Jack was nearing graduation when he took the required ethics coursework. He struggled with ethics at first—he liked the discussions of various issues in class but seemed to always fail on the essay tests. This problem corrected itself when Jack realized that the ethics class was all centered around the concept of teaching students to not cheat patients. Once Jack mastered this he went on to graduate with honors.
Young chiropractors have to work several years in an established practice before being able to strikeout on their own so Jack went to an interview at a popular clinic run by a group of doctors. Their company bylaws required them to elect one of their membership as the Chiropractor-in-Chief. The current Chiropractor-in-Chief was a well known and popular on the internet as a staunch conservative. He lived over in the hill district and drove a fancy foreign car and believed there was nothing wrong in using the nearby lake as a convenient storage site for mine tailings. After a few perfunctory questions he asked about Jack's specialty which he listed on his application as Psychiatric Chiropractic Care. “What,” the chief doctor asked, “is a psychiatric chiropractor? "
“I change how people believe.” Jack told him.”I can make someone who is a conservative believe in a liberal cause. I can also make liberals believe in conservative causes.”
“How do you do that?”
“It's just like adjusting their spine. It's just that I somehow can reach up further and adjust a patient's perception. If, for example, they believe in concealed carry laws then I show them how those laws lead to innocent children being killed, causing them to change their position to that of strict gun control.”
The doctor looked skeptical. “What if they are already a gun control supporter?”
“The procedure's the same,” Jack said, “but the focus changes. Then I show them the instances in which innocents would have been protected by legally available handguns. They can't bear the thought of innocents being hurt so they want to protect them.”
“That's incredible!” said the doctor. “I want to see you do it. Can you do it to me?”
“I can but you won't recognize the change.” Jack said. “You'll think you believed that way all your life.”
“Ah,” said the doctor and then made plans for Jack to demonstrate his ability on a patient. He brought in his own mother who supported gun control and a general handgun ban but after Jack's adjustment but came away with a desire to own a small .22 automatic to shoot the snakes in her yard. So the Chiropractor-in-Chief hired Jack and gave him a small treatment room in the corner of a building clad in marble. Through his quiet network a steady stream of liberals were brought in and adjusted into conservative supporters, treating maladies such as the love of communism, environmental causes and single payer healthcare.
This went on for a year or so and then the chiropractors who owned the practice got together and voted in a new Chiropractor-in-Chief. Shortly after he was appointed he discovered the truth about Jack's adjustments. Unlike the original Chiropractor-in-Chief this one was pretty liberal but burdened with a mother who believed that unemployment and foodstamps were tools minorities used to avoid gainful employment so he brought her in. When Jack was finished she was advocating legalized marijuana to help finance services to undocumented immigrants.
So it continued for several more years with Jack in his small office in the marble clad building treating a steam of patients with such maladies as believing in the sanctity of marriage or wishing to exercise their right to bear arms and were changed into people who thought gay pride parades were a lot of fun.
This went on for quite a few years—the bylaws of the chiropractic practice required elections every four years and whoever would win the election would then make use of Jack's abilities to attempt to mold society into the politically fashionable direction.
Now I suppose you think something will happen and yes that's the case as I entered the story in a way more then just narration. My name is Katie but people usually just call me Kate because it's faster to say and quite frankly I'm a fast person. I was brought to see Jack to have my position on abortion changed. I came to him believing in choice.
Jake had me lay down prone on a table and he gently felt my back for the right spot. Once he located it he applied pressure, but there was no crack. “Hmm, you seem to be a little tense.” He said as he pressed harder. I was getting uncomfortable and told him so.
“That's okay we can try it a different way.” He then found another spot and pressed but, once again, there was no relieving click indicating a shift in my backbone. He tried a few more times and then gave up. “I don't understand,” he said, “I'm doing all of the right things.”
I sat up. “What are you trying to do?” I asked him.
“It says here you believe that abortion should be an individual's right to choose. I'm trying to fix that by showing you the tragedy of the victims.”
“Of course there's tragedy in an abortion, especially for the victims. It's tragic for the unborn child and for the mother. Ending a life is always a horrible and sad thing.”
“Oh,” said Jack, “It worked. Never mind.”
“But then one has to look at the other life in the equation—that is the life of the mother. Her life is radically altered, sometimes even shortened by the child she carries. Surely she is the one best empowered to make such a sick and tragic decision.”
“Oh,” said Jack, “I guess it didn't work.” Jack began to try another adjustment on me.
“So what is it you believe?” I asked him.
“I don't think that it really matters.” Jack replied, his fingers looking for that right spot on my spine.
“Don't you feel bad changing the way people believe in things?”
“No I don't—because it's what they really want. People say they want this or that but what they really want is to be able to disagree—to argue—to make themselves think they're making a difference.”
“But of course they're making a difference—they're making a difference of their own choosing.”
Jake laughed. “You think the way you believe is your own choosing?”
“Well of course I believe in what I want to. Isn't that a fundamental aspect of freedom?”
“Yes. But it's not the opinion that's important. It's the issue. You don't have a choice in deciding what the issue is.”
“Oh, I see what you mean.” I said because I actually did. “And that's why you can't make that adjustment on me because I understand the difference between an opinion and a response in such circumstances.”
“I think I can fix you, though. Let me try something.” He pressed upon my back and I heard a click and then we were madly in love.
We still are in the corner of the marble clad building. I'm Jack's secretary now and because I'm fast we can see a lot of people every day. We own a couple of cats that stay in our nice home when we go away for the weekend to a park where we look at trees together and feel love.
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