To the editor:
You require major surgery. For four years you've been under the care and treatment of a specialist who wants to do the surgery. He promised miraculous results but your condition deteriorated to the point where surgery will determine whether you make a full recovery or be an invalid for life.
Four years with this specialist have been a period of ultra-expensive and irrational experiments yielding no positive results. You inquired about other patients he may have had with identical problems. He avoids the question but only admits to have done organizational work in Chicago that immensely benefited his patients. You've come to the conclusion that aside from continuously spouting one-line jokes like a Saturday Night Live entertainer and being charming enough to tell you to go to hell and you'd look forward to the trip, bluntly, he doesn't know whether to wind his butt or scratch his watch!
A second possibility surfaces; a specialist who does not light up the room with his humor and is not particularly charismatic. One of his attributes is his proven success. He admits there will be discomfort on the road to recovery; that you don't like. Your problem is, do you put yourself under the care of a watch scratcher or experience success with some discomfort under the care of a watch winder.
This analogy, a bit hyperbolic, should be given serious consideration. The illness is your country's grave condition. Want it cured? Want to go into a third world country status? The decision is yours. Don't say you weren't given a choice.
Charles E. Deibert
Reedsville
