You don’t drive this car in the winter,” said Daniel as he attached the exhaust vent hose to the tailpipe.
“No, I don’t,” replied Ben. “How did you notice that?”
“The rust-proofing looks like new. You can tell when the coating has been exposed to salt. Yours still looks fresh, but it’s probably been on for almost a year,” observed Daniel.
“That’s right. I get it done every second year. I don’t really need it, since I don’t drive it in winter, but better safe than sorry,” explained Ben.
“Well, that’s a switch from your high school days,” said Vic. “You were always more sorry than safe.”
Max laughed, then noticed Vic staring at him.
“You shouldn’t laugh too hard, Farley. You looked pretty sorry that day you were almost crushed between the rolling stacks in the library.”
“You knew about that?” asked Max, caught off-guard.
“You’d be surprised what I knew—and still know,” said Vic.
“I am surprised,” replied Max.
“Enough reminiscing about high school, boys,” said Vic, turning to Ben. “You brought your car here for an oil change.”
“And for some other help, too,” added Ben.
Daniel looked up from under the raised hood of the Toyota.
“I’m not sure exactly what Vic told you boys, but I have to make sure you understand that I don’t have any special powers to heal you,” said Daniel as he removed the oil filter.
“It’s OK, Daniel. We know you’re not a doctor. We’re just here to listen to what you have to say. Vic speaks highly of you,” explained Ben.
“Help yourselves,” said Daniel, gesturing to a large bowl of fresh, ripe fruit on a table in the corner of the room.
“Don’t mind if I do,” said Max, reaching for a Bartlett pear. “The last repair shop I was in had a box of donuts out for the customers. This is different.”
“To get back to your last remark, Ben. You implied that since I’m not a doctor, you don’t expect me to be able to heal you. I just want you to be clear on one point: doctors don’t heal sick bodies. Despite everything you have been taught throughout your life about medicine, it is your own body that heals itself,” he explained, scanning the shelf for a new oil filter.
Max looked skeptical.
“Then why do we spend so much money on our health care system? I thought we had the best system in the world,” he said, wiping pear juice from his chin with the back of his hand.
“Damage control is always more expensive than preventive maintenance, Max,” explained Daniel as he adjusted the oil filter wrench. “Take this car, for example. How much does it cost for a regular oil change?”
“You can get one for about forty bucks at most places,” answered Max.
“How much do you think it would cost to tear this engine apart and replace the rings and valves?” asked Daniel.
“I don’t know. It depends where you go. Probably over a thousand,” estimated Max.
“Do the math, Farley,” said Vic. “You were always the top student in that subject. Compare forty bucks for preventive maintenance to a thousand bucks for damage control. That’s what Daniel’s talking about. Even Ben should be able to understand that!”
“What’s this got to do with the health care system?” asked Ben.
“How much would it cost for a one-year membership at a fitness club?” asked Daniel.
“It varies. Probably a few hundred dollars a year, I guess,” replied Ben.
“Do you have any idea how much it costs for a heart surgeon to perform a bypass operation?” asked Daniel.
“Thousands?”
“Several thousands. Tens of thousands. If a person spends a few hundred bucks on a fitness club membership and works out a couple of times a week, he’ll probably never need a coronary bypass. If he leads a sedentary lifestyle, however, he could end up on the operating table, costing our health care system a fortune. Preventive maintenance versus damage control.”
“It can’t be that simple,” said Max. “Why is our health care system so highly regarded?”
“Well, it certainly is expensive. If the measure of a health care system is the amount of money it costs, then we probably do have the best one in the world. But look at the results—is everyone healthy? If they were, we wouldn’t need a so-called health care system. It is in the interests of all the players in that game to have sick people. It’s really a sickness care system. That’s what we spend all of our money on. Damage control. It’s very expensive.”
Daniel finished tightening the oil filter, then returned the wrench to his tool rack.
“We have to have some kind of system,” said Ben. “Where would people turn for help in fighting illness and disease? I mean, people do get sick.”
“That’s an education problem,” explained Daniel, glancing over at Vic. “From a pretty early age, we are conditioned to believe that good health comes from external sources. Pills, medicine, vaccines, surgery, visits to the doctor. You want to talk about the best health care system in the world? Look inside, boys. The only truly effective health care system is the one that exists inside each of us.”
“Inside us?” asked Max, attempting to send his pear core cross-court into the trash can in the other corner of the room. “A rim shot. Two points!”
“Everyone has their own self-contained health care system. It was designed by nature, and it performs flawlessly, when it is allowed to. As long as there is no interference, it can ward off almost all sickness and disease. And it’s free.”
“What do you mean by interference?” asked Max.
“I’ll explain more about that another time. Right now, I just want to deal with this idea of the health care system. You hear about a ‘crisis’, but that’s phony. They talk about needing more money, as if that’s going to make people healthier. There’s a crisis, all right, but it’s the result of people’s lifestyles,” explained Daniel, glancing at Ben.
Daniel opened a case of motor oil and removed four one-litre containers.
“When you have a majority of the people refusing to accept responsibility for their health you have a problem. But they’ve been told all their lives that doctors can heal them. So they live a life with little or no exercise and poor nutrition, then run to the doctor to fix them up when things start to break down in their bodies. Damage control. I don’t care how much money you spend, no system can fix that.”
“I hope you aren’t suggesting that we don’t need doctors. My uncle’s a doctor. I’d hate to see him out of a job. He’d never be able to afford the taxes on that house he lives in.”
“We still need them. Maybe they need to perform a different function. You break a leg or cut open your hand while fixing the car and you need emergency treatment. But you start having symptoms of pre-diabetes or headache and you go to see your doctor, and he gives you a prescription and sends you away. Maybe he should