from the gossips to the wise man, said that the old way was right,
and that the tribe had always behaved that way. There were few real
individuals in the tribe, so that even though scores would have been
glad to try the cure, they were afraid to stand against the rest and
did what everyone else was doing, which was nothing.
The witch doctor had a stronger argument against the new regimen. He
pointed out that the cure was harder to take than the cures he
dispensed. The Eastern doctor's cure was painful, and though many of
the witch doctor's cures caused vomiting, hives, convulsions, and
hallucinations, the natives were all familiar with these effects and
attributed them to swallowing the medicine wrong, rather than to the
medicine itself. But who knew what the fate of the cured natives
would eventually be?
The cured natives said they felt fine, but they might have been lying.
And who was fool enough to trust an outsider, a stranger, rather than
the familiar witch doctor, who cursed those who took the cure because
they rejected his medicines as false and pernicious? The cured natives
said that a commitment must be made to trust the Eastern doctor; this
was too difficult or uncertain a step for many, especially in the face
of the social pressure around them. A decision accompanied by fear,
decried by the important, and rejected by society could not be made
by everyone.
After the time of his stay was over, the Eastern doctor showed the
cured natives how to compound the medicine and then left. As
generations passed, most of the natives remained loyal to the
dunghill, but a few took the cure.
Love
Otto and his girlfriend Brissa were driving merrily down the middle
of the road one rainy night on their way to a party when they
approached a little old lady trying vainly to change a flat tire.
"Gee, that's too bad," said Brissa.
"Yeah," agreed Otto.
"Maybe we should help her," added Brissa.
"We? You mean me. I'm not going to get wet. Besides, what good
would it do me to help her? I don't even know who she is, and she
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