I have chosen "Maturity" as the title for my column in Dynamic Chiropractic. Reader's Digest Encyclopedic Dictionary defines maturity as "having reached a stage of intellectual and emotional development."
It is my opinion that a major identification of maturity is the dual concept of tolerance and accountability. Tolerance is defined, "to allow beliefs or practices that differ from one's own to exist without interference or prohibitions." The dictionary states that accountability means "capable of being explained, answerable."
How does this reflect on the present day chiropractic profession? As a practicing DC for over 30 years, I have vigorously worked not only taking care of patients, but also in the legislative efforts to improve the social/economic basis for our profession. As a legislative activist with the ACA over many years, and a chiropractic advocate in New Jersey, I can only conclude that we are immature. We need to attain intellectual and emotional adulthood as a profession, otherwise, we will not attain the destiny our pioneers envisioned.
I hope my column will objectively integrate the plus and minuses of our research community, our political leadership, and our dedicated community of chiropractic physicians, and to identify the limitations and the contributions of each.
Our future demands tolerance and accountability if we are to succeed. We need to continually remind ourselves that there are approximately 45,000 DCs, 200,000 RNs, and over 600,000 MDs. With these manpower odds against us, the urgency of professional maturity should be readily apparent.
Once we get better at living together, we will realize that the American public deserves a viable and effective natural/holistic health care alternative to today's biomedical model. Once we demand answers and explanations from each segment of the profession, we will grow together in harmony. We will never find satisfaction in a mechanistic explanation of chiropractic healing, nor will we be satisfied with a purely vitalistic perspective.
The body's homeostatic mechanisms demand integration and coordination of its multisystems to function in a positive mode. Our chiropractic researchers and politicians need to harmonize their activities with the community chiropractors and not act as if they are superior to the field doctors. Foolhardiness is not an attribute confined to practicing DCs only, but is shared by the research and political segments.
I call upon all parties to develop a "family of chiropractic" attitude. In a biological sense, the family is a higher order than the individual. Love is at the center of its existence. Family is a biological necessity and a political reality if we are to create a level playing field for our patients.
I hope we will become a chiropractic family in the near future. We must recognize our individual mortality. The immortality of the chiropractic family will be a reality if we emphasize the qualities of accountability and tolerance.
Arnold Cianciulli, DC, MS
Bayonne, New Jersey
