Читать книгу The Healthy Mechanic - Tim Scapillato - Страница 12

Daniel flicked a switch as he entered the garage. The double doors slid open horizontally. That’s odd, thought Ben. Garage doors usually open vertically.

“Drive your vehicle in on the right hand side, Ben,” said Daniel.

The first thing that caught Ben’s eye as the doors slid open was a poster on the east wall of the garage, next to the window. At first glance it appeared to be one of those inspirational, self-help message posters encouraging people to be positive, have goals, never give up, or dig deep into their inner selves for inspiration. Such a message would have seemed appropriate, given what he knew about the Websters so far. He drove into the garage and parked next to the window. Before getting out he looked through the passenger window and read the quote on the poster:

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

Interesting, he thought. What was surprising was the author, whose name appeared just below the quote: Thomas A. Edison. Surprising because Ben thought that Edison was a scientist and inventor, but hadn’t heard about anything about his medical knowledge or interests. Well, here he was at the home of a mechanic who was going to give him health tips, so anything was possible.

As he got out of the car, his gaze fixed on the large aquarium built into the back wall of the shop. About three feet in depth, it extended the entire width of the building. Dozens of species of tropical fish maneuvered through the rocks and coral. The effect was hypnotic.

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, and 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, and 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, and 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 be educating his patients on ways that they can change their lives so they can improve their metabolism and not get as many headaches. Teach them how to stop the interference.”

Daniel finished adding the new oil to the crankcase, then checked the level on the dipstick.

“Start the engine, Ben, then shut it off after one minute.”

Daniel stood back, watched the engine while it started, then looked up.

“You a hockey fan, Max?”

“I love to watch it, but I’ve never played. I’m a Canadiens fan.”

“Didn’t they used to be a hockey team?” asked Vic.

“They’re still a team,” said Ben. “They just don’t play hockey anymore.”

“They’re the greatest dynasty in sports history. Well, they were at one time,” said Max.

“And that time has long passed,” said Vic.

“My point, gentlemen, is not who is or was the greatest,” explained Daniel. “I wanted to ask Max why they have the ‘interference’ penalty in hockey.”

“To prevent all that clutching, grabbing and holding of players who don’t have control of the puck,” explained Max.

“And why is that a bad thing?”

“It takes a player out of the action and impedes the flow of the game. It’s an obstruction.”

“That’s what happens when you take drugs, don’t exercise, have poor posture, and don’t eat well. These are all forms of interference in your body. Your internal health care system is designed to work without interference. If there’s no interference, you’ll have a much better chance of being healthy. If there is interference, the system is weakened, and you’ll be predisposed to illness. You want a perfect health care system? Remove the interference. You can do that yourself—just change your lifestyle. A doctor can’t do that for you.”

Ben turned off the engine.

“Do you want me to add ten pounds of sugar to your gas tank before you leave, Ben?” asked Daniel.

Ben looked up, stunned. “You can’t be serious!”

“Why not?” asked Daniel.

“That would destroy the engine, that’s why. You must know that.”

“Of course. I just wondered, though, why you would consume that amount of sugar in a year—probably more—but you wouldn’t put it in your car. It’ll do as much damage to you as it does to your engine, but you consume it effortlessly and without a second thought. That’s interesting, isn’t it?”

“It’s scary, is what it is,” said Vic.

“Ben always had a sweet tooth,” added Max.

“I didn’t know sugar was that bad for you,” said Ben.

“I’m not surprised to hear that,” replied Daniel. “It’s just another form of interference, really. All this interference is what makes the so-called health care system so expensive. You can stop the interference. It’s up to you.”

“It can’t be that simple, Daniel,” said Ben. “I mean, I understand what you’re telling us, but it is hard to accept that we can simply decide to live a certain lifestyle and we will no longer be sick. If it were that easy, wouldn’t everyone be doing it? I mean, there are still a lot of diseases that we can catch out there. What about cancer and arthritis, and illnesses like that? Anyone can catch those.”

“Listen to the way you talk about it. You say we can ‘catch’ a disease. We are taught from a pretty young age that sickness is something that we ‘catch’ from an external source. So naturally we think an external source—a doctor or a drug—can cure the illness. Actually, it is as easy as making a decision not to be sick. We come into this world equipped with everything we need to achieve and maintain good health.”

Daniel closed the hood of the Toyota and wiped it with a clean rag. As he reached for a nectarine, Ben noticed a large wooden chest against the wall under the aquarium, next to a Japanese bonsai tree. It contained several neatly organized large file folders. Probably records of work on his customers’ cars, thought Ben. He wasn’t sure why the word “TUNE” was carved into the wooden slat that ran across the front of the trunk, however. Must be something to do with tune-ups and repairs, he guessed.

“Your car has a well-maintained engine, Ben. That’s very apparent. You drive it with care, don’t you?” asked Daniel.

“Yup, that’s my baby,” answered Ben.

“You could drive it hard and never maintain it. You could keep it on the road all winter, and never wash it. Just think what kind of shape it would be in. But you choose to look after it and treat it with respect. You have the same choice with your own body. If you had a car that was competing in the Grand Prix you would want it to perform at its best, wouldn’t you?”

“You bet,” said Max. “I’d need a few wins to cover all the major expenses of owning a vehicle like that.”

“If you were told you could have only one mechanic and you needed to choose between one who was really good at fixing it when it broke down as opposed to a mechanic who specialized in enhancing the performance of the engine as well as fixing breakdowns, which one would you choose?”

“The second one, of course,” said Max.

“Exactly,” said Daniel, “and why would you not do that for your own body as well? Find a health professional who can help you perform at your best, instead of just using one that provides you some kind of relief when problems occur.”

“I guess you’d better stop putting all that sugar into your internal engine, Ben,” joked Max.

“Listen, Max, do you want me to remove those vending machines at work that you like to visit every afternoon? You know, the ones with the cream-filled cakes.”

“Not unless you want a revolt on your hands.”

“But Daniel,” said Ben. “Some people are born with diseases, or are predisposed to getting them.”

“That’s true, Ben. There are genetic diseases that are inevitable, like cystic fibrosis, and you can’t do anything about it. That kind of situation accounts for a small percentage of diseases. Some of us have weaknesses from birth passed on through the genetic pool. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do. It isn’t inevitable that you will become ill because your father or his father had a certain disease. You’re right that we can’t change our innate predisposition to certain illness and disease, but look at it this way: Your genetic makeup is a loaded gun. Your lifestyle is what determines whether or not the trigger is pulled.”

Turning toward the wall, Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out a large skeleton key. He closed the lid on the trunk, locked it, and returned the key to his pocket.

“Tell them about the eleven secrets, Daniel,” said Vic. He seemed visibly excited.

“You certainly don’t beat around the bush, do you, Vic?” replied Daniel. “I was coming to that.”

“The eleven secrets?” asked Max.

“They aren’t really secrets. Vic makes it sound more mysterious than it really is. My wife and I have knowledge of eleven lifestyle choices that can contribute to a long and healthy life. They are referred to as the ‘secrets’ simply because the majority of people either do not know them or choose not to follow them. These principles of wellness are not really secret or mysterious, but the impact of their widespread adoption and application would be revolutionary. Learn these eleven secrets and you will be in full control of your health.”

“Do you know these secrets, Vic?” asked Ben.

“They changed my life. Well, more accurately, I changed my life when I learned them. I’m sure Daniel would like to share his knowledge with you.”

Sunlight diffused through prisms hanging in the windows projected slivers of light on the walls. Daniel stood next to the trunk, eating a slice of mango. His posture was that of a physically fit man. With a full head of hair—graying, but it was still all there—and a smooth skin texture, Daniel was surrounded by a peaceful and contented aura. Ben could only guess at his age: he had the physical bearing of a robust, young man, but the wisdom and experience of someone much older. He could have been 50. Or 75. Or even older. He almost seemed ageless.

“I’d be happy to tell you what I know. But just remember that I’m not a magician or a god. I don’t have all the answers. You don’t have to believe a word I say. This is where my journey to health and well-being has brought me and I will share it with anyone who wants to listen. I have lived my life according to the eleven secrets, and have never been sick. How old do you think I am, Ben?”

Ben was startled. It was as though Daniel had been reading his thoughts.

“I’m never good at guessing ages. I don’t know, maybe in your early seventies?”

“I’m ninety-one years old, Ben. But thanks for the compliment.”

Ben looked at Max; both of them looked at a smiling Parsons.

“You’ve noticed the remarkable change in our friend since his days as a high school vice-principal. This should tell you that it’s never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle. I can only give you the knowledge. What you do with it is up to you. If you choose to continue with your present lifestyle, then you can expect to grow old and perhaps be afflicted by many of the illnesses that we commonly associate with aging. Or, you can incorporate the secrets into your lifestyle and let your internal health care system flourish. It’s not too late, gentlemen. If you embrace a new way of thinking and believe that you can change your lifestyle, it can happen almost overnight.”

“I’ll tell you, Daniel, I have to do something. After what I learned from my doctor a few days ago, I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

“Don’t worry, Ben, the human body is an amazingly resilient machine. It will heal itself, given the right conditions, sometimes in spite of everything we throw at it. It can be done. It all starts with a positive mental attitude.”

“I don’t know about Max, who is a born skeptic, but I want to learn more,” said Ben.

“Come back next weekend, Ben. Max, you’re invited, too, but I have the feeling that you want to think about what you’ve heard here today.”

“Thanks, I’ll let you know,” replied Max.

“Good. I’ll see you next weekend, Ben. I’ll adjust your timing belt.”

“My timing belt? I didn’t know there was anything wrong with it.”

“There isn’t right now, but by next weekend there will be. Trust me on that one. Don’t take this car on a long trip between now and next weekend.”

“Next weekend it is, Daniel. By the way, how much do I owe you for the oil change?”

“The regular cost for an oil change is about forty bucks, so what I’d like you to do is donate that amount to an organization that promotes healthy lifestyles for children. Children need to be taught the concept of health enhancement and prevention.”

“Sure,” said Ben. “I’d be happy to do that. Thanks again. And we’ll see you next weekend.”