In order to become a Lawn Doctor (LD) do you have to go to Lawn School?
A neighbor of ours at the storage unit has a Lawn Doctor franchise. I amused myself by thinking whether (like my hippie PhD brother) he calls himself "Doctor." I am not taking a piss on these franchises, but it did remind me how easy it is to become a professional and how people place undue faith in their professional service providers - often to their detriment.
I read online a story by a fellow who went to a counselor for help with emotional issues. Things were going just fine and he felt he was making progress, when the counselor let slip a few things hinting that maybe he was a big MAGA-fan, and he went on a mini-rant about taxes, liberals, and immigrants. Needless to say, the fellow seeking counseling felt devastated and sought out a new counselor.
On the other hand, it is a good learning experience. I have harped on this before, but for some reason, people like to believe that there are fellow humans out there who are so much smarter than us, understand the human mind better, and have an "in" with God. We live a brief period on this planet, and some 30-year-old who went to divinity school really doesn't have life figured out more than you do, particularly since he is living in the closet.
I noted before that I have known a number of psychologists and psychiatrists and they are all a little crazy - and often very unprofessional. I noted before how easy it is to become a lawyer - after all, they let me do it, and that tells you a lot right there. Doctors? Yes, many are life-saving geniuses, but every town has a doctor who either should have stopped practicing years ago, or never should have been allowed into the profession. And that's in addition to the "sports medicine" guy running the Opiate pill-mill in town (and every town has one, it seems).
And crappy lawyers? Have you seen these nutjobs that Trump hires? Insane lawyers abound.
While I am making a joke about Lawn Doctors, chances are, the guy spraying chemicals on your lawn is less likely to be unhinged or weird or "off" than some doctor or lawyer. And even if he was weird, well, he couldn't do much damage other than turn your lawn brown. Other professions can do far more damage, including putting you on death row, or just murdering you in the hospital. Ever month, it seems, we read another article about a "Doctor Death" or a deadly nurse, who gets their jollies by killing patients. I wonder how many we never find out about?
This is not to disparage doctors or the medical profession in general. Nor is it to excuse the excesses in the professions as anomalies or "one bad apple." The problem in any profession, whether it is medical doctor or juris doctor or lawn doctor, is that you have this internal conflict involving work and money. You call the lawn doctor and he will recommend some sort of chemical treatment for your lawn - fertilizer or bug spray or whatever. Very rarely do you find someone who says, "your lawn looks just great! Keep up the good work! You don't need me!"
And I say this from experience. We called a landscape specialist and he recommended cutting down all our trees (in a State Park - that's a non-starter!) and then killing off our lawn with chemicals and installing new fancy sod and an in-ground sprinkler system. The cost? $20,000 just to get started! We took a pass. You know, our weedy lawn looks just fine, and I'd rather have the "green" in my checking account.
The law business is no different. There is pressure to bill, bill, bill, to cover overhead and partnership profit - and your own salary. You'll never get a raise or be made partner, if you don't do the billable hours. So in the back of the mind of even the most ethical and honest lawyer (they exist? Sure!) is this subtle pressure to bill, bill, bill. You don't make money by saying "You don't need my legal services!" And again, this isn't something that most people consciously do, it is subconscious - for most, anyway.
And don't get me started on Dentists! We had a great dentist, but his son went to dental school and decided to join the practice. Apparently what he learned in dental school was to jack up the prices and recommend a lot of unnecessary dental work. Dentistry is weird, if you think about it. People go to the dentist twice a year, yet they only visit a cardiologist when they have severe heart problems - and it is too late to prevent them.
With doctors, it is the same deal. I've read that something like half all the money spent on medical care in this country is in the last few months of life. And living on old people island, I have seen this firsthand - and it is horrific. People who should be put in home hospice care and given a shitload of morphine, are given false hope of living forever (at age 90+!) and undergo one painful and uncomfortable (and ultimately fruitless) treatment after another, until they are dead.
And again, maybe the doctor involved didn't consciously do this, but felt he had to present all treatment options to the patient, even bogus long-shots. The week before my sister died, her doctor (who we later found out was a far-right Christian) was telling the family that she might get better and suggested we pray. She should have been in hospice care long before then, but last-ditch treatments were income for the Laramie County Veterinary Hospital and Oncology Center. Why she went there, I will never know. Funny thing, they finally sent her home the same day she hit the lifetime cap on her health insurance.
Again, this is not to say that all doctors are bastards and you should ignore medical advice and go online for holistic medicine - that's just crazy. But you have to realize that professionals are not Gods, they are fallible human beings like you and me.
My Mother took the opposite tack as my Sister and refused treatments that easily would have extended her life by a decade or more. Rather than have a simple heart procedure, like a stent, she decided to just give up and die at home.
There has to be a happy medium. But I guess the will to live is very strong. We have another friend who has maybe three or four weeks left to live, who is still talking about possible new treatments that might cure him. It is very sad he cannot come to grips with this, but then again, maybe the same thing will happen to me someday. It is hard to say.
I guess the point is, you have to be very careful in choosing a professional. Maybe look carefully around their office to see if they subscribe to weird conspiracy theories, or check out the bumper of their car for MAGA bumper stickers - both are signs of derangement. But even if you find a "good" professional, take their advice for what it is - advice, not instructions. Don't be afraid to get a second opinion.
Humans are fallible, and just because they have a fancy diploma doesn't mean they are infallible. In fact, maybe the opposite is true - once they become anointed as one of the special few, it is easy to believe they have become a minor God.
