What Remains?

As we try to clear the rubble of the September 11 attacks from our streets and hearts, many people are discovering that they can't necessarily depend on the kind of life that previously took for granted. For many people, it is a question of re-examining priorities.

Take a look around you and observe that most of what you see falls into one of three categories:

1. "Stuff" - We all know what "stuff" is: all those things we've bought over the years, and all the items that have been given to us. Stuff is our material possessions scattered around the house and in the garage. Most of our stuff eventually ends up belonging to someone else. While our stuff is quite tangible, it is the least permanent and the least valuable of the three categories.


2. People - The most important people in our lives are our family and friends; some of us make close attachments to coworkers. As a doctor of chiropractic, your patients are the people that depend on your for their health. Your relationships with your family, friends, and patients are a result of who you are and the richness of your life. The best relationships last a lifetime.


3. Actions - Our actions have a surprising force on the world. Each decision we make results in actions that set into motion an untold number of reactions that change to some degree your world. The ever-changing mutation of our corporate decisions is what creates the world we live in. The echoes of our actions, both good and bad, go on forever.

Who would have thought that Harvey Lillard would become part of the birth of the greatest wellness profession in the world by placing his confidence in a little-known technique practiced by a small-town doctor from Canada? His decision to undergo that examination and adjustment changed the history of health care in the United States and later, the world.

Did Harvey have any sense that something special was about to happen? Was Dr. Palmer the first doctor to examine him? Did he believe that this new approach to health would restore his hearing?

The answers are probably all "no." But that doesn't change the outcome. Over 100 years later, the world is a completely different place, based partly on Harvey's decision.

What decisions will you make today that will forever change the future?

What actions will you take that will import life and joy into a person's life that may cause that person to do something very profound, bringing great benefit to people?

The actions we take are a living testimony to who we are. If you are a giver, then everything you do has that focus. You don't have to tell people what you are; they can see it in your attitude. They can see the goodness of your heart in your actions and hear it in your voice.

If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, it won't last, because it isn't true. It won't have the same power as doing the right thing for the right reasons.

This is what will remain: what you do and how you do it.

Your stuff? Most of it will be gone before you know it. It will either rot, break, get lost, be given away, or be left behind when you die. Of all these choices, the best is to give away what you don't need. This has the most lasting impact.

What about people you know? As you get older, they become fewer. They too will pass on, as you will, to face their "God" and give an account of their actions. If they are remembered for more than a few generations, it will be for what they did.

What you do today does matter. It will have impact far beyond what you can comprehend. Have reverence for what you can do and how you do it. It's the story of your life played out every day for the short time you have to play it.

Donald M. Petersen Jr.,BS, HCD (hc), FICC(h)
Editor / Publisher of Dynamic Chiropractic
don@mpamedia.com