Turn left where the Sunoco station used to be

It's another direction that sounds like we ought to be able to follow, but by the time we realize we can't, the local who gave it isn't around, we're farther down the road. And unlikely to see the quaint humor

"Think positively," or the grammatical bastardization of it, "Think Positive." is another one. Biofeedback is another one. Sounds great. And if you can't think your pain away then what? You feel stupid and guilty and inadequate, and farther down the road, and still in pain. And unlikely to see the sardonic truth.

I few years ago the dual-number TV news shows (60 minutes, 48-Hours, one of them) ran segments on the turn left principle at work within in the HMOs. HMOs would routinely reject requests for psychological treatment, knowing that the patients who really needed it probably wouldn't have the tenacity to fight. They were right. When you're depressed you're not likely to win a fight with an HMO. HMOs found their own way to tell patients to turn left where the Sunoco station used to be, and nearly all of them wandered on down the road.

The fact is with arthritis, as with other chronic diseases, we just don't know where to turn. Whether it's diet, holistic treatment, alternative medicine, acupuncture, petting our dog (do it more often), more sex, wheat grass and beat juice, pharmacological alternatives, exercise, religion, getting closer to people, getting away from people, getting a new job, keeping on old one, paying it forward, collecting forward, traveling, street drugs, face painting, pierced nipples, or sexual abuse when we were younger, we just don't know.

It would be simple if there were only one left turn where the Sunoco used to be. But it's a nightmare British traffic circle in central London--and you're driving on the wrong side of the road.

Pain affects our intellectual and logical vision. We don't see our own situation clearly and so, even if we have the tenacity to continue fighting long after the poor psychologically ill bastard has given up getting his therapy paid for, and the HMO has made a few more cents, there is the likelihood that we'll make the wrong decision anyway. You don't believe me? OK then, try this. Tell me what your friend needs to do to feel better. There's a reason you know, and its got to do with clear vision - knowing where to turn left even though the Sunoco station is gone. And why is your friend likely to get irritated at your diagnoses? Because its clear and correct in general if not specifically. You can do the same with your friend's children and your friend's relationship to their domestic partner. Because just as the local technically gave you perfectly accurate directions, you're giving your friend perfect advice.

So what's wrong then? Everything. It takes energy, creativity and knowledge to fight disease. Then it takes pills. And sometimes we just don't have the energy, creativity or the knowledge to do it. Sometimes we don't have the energy creativity or knowledge to figure out where the Sunoco station used to be. And sometimes we don't hear when people tell us, sometimes we can't listen.

And then sometimes we just stop at a corner for no reason, look down we see a rusty gas cap and figure it must be time to turn left. And sometimes we have a friend with us who can say, "yes, it's a gas cap and that means there used to be a Sunoco station here,"