As a recruiter at Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic, I have been fortunate to meet many future chiropractors, all of whom cite different reasons for pursuing a career in chiropractic. Like those students, I have chosen this profession in part because I would like to help others live healthier, subluxation-free lives. I also look forward to enjoying my job and having time to spend with my family and volunteer at my church while earning a good income. However, the primary reason I decided to take the plunge into a chiropractic career is much more difficult to quantify or explain: I feel being a chiropractor is an important part of what I was designed to do. Events beyond my control seem to point me in that direction and my passion for straight chiropractic drives me to Sherman College so that I can help others discover its benefits.
My chiropractic story began when I was involved in an automobile accident during my high school years. A teenager with a new car and an even newer driver’s license came around a curve at twice the posted speed limit while I was waiting to make a left turn. Seconds later, his youthful disregard for his own mortality had left a jumbled mess of cars on the road. The seat in my car broke and fully reclined when I was hit from behind. As I sat there with my foot on the brake and my head resting in the back seat, I assumed that my car was totaled and I suspected that something was wrong with my neck.
The next day, my suspicions were confirmed: The frame on my 1987 Ford Mustang was damaged and the car was totaled. Even worse, the throbbing pain in my neck told me that the frame of my 1976 Homo Sapiens body was also “bent,” so I went to the hospital. After hours of waiting, they finally took x-rays and the doctor said that there is nothing wrong with my neck and that the pain would subside in a few days. He also gave me some prescription muscle relaxers and pain relievers to treat the pain caused by the problems in my cervical spine that he said did not exist.
The magic potions he prescribed did provide temporary relief, but within a few hours the soreness would quickly return until I took another dose. After a few days of riding this pain roller coaster, I was willing to try anything to make the problem disappear forever. That was when my mom suggested that I go see her chiropractor, Dr. Bruce Ehlich. What Dr. Bruce said about my spine made sense, but I was still petrified as he used his hands to correct the misalignments in my spine for the first time. Much to my surprise, chiropractic worked even better than the muscle relaxers and painkillers. I soon felt better than I did before the accident, and I have been a healthy fan of chiropractic ever since.
My next chiropractor was Dr. Bruce’s son, Chris. He is a Sherman graduate who has a practice near my house. One Saturday Chris invited me to attend a Lyceum Career Day at Sherman College. After hearing Dr. Reggie Gold, seeing the anatomy lab, and learning more about chiropractic, I knew that I had found the perfect career. But once my teenage ears heard how many years I would have to go to school in order to become a chiropractor, I put the idea on the back burner for a while.
In the meantime, I finished my degree at USC-Spartanburg, studied at a bible college in Mexico, and spent several years working as a missionary and youth pastor in Mexico and southern Texas. It appeared as if I had escaped my desire to become a chiropractor.
But it was not long before circumstances beyond my control prompted me to move back home unexpectedly. Upon arriving in Spartanburg I looked for a job where I could still help young people improve their lives in some way. I applied for positions in the admission offices at two colleges in Spartanburg. One college was USC-Spartanburg and the other did not list the name of the school in the classified ad I found in the paper. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the unnamed school was Sherman College. And I did get the job.
When I started to work at Sherman, I was required to attend a philosophy class with the first-quarter students. During the first week of class, I listened to the students tell why they had chosen chiropractic and why they had chosen Sherman College. The words they spoke reawakened my desire to be a chiropractor.
When it was my turn to say why I had chosen chiropractic and Sherman College, I told my story. While I shared with the class, I made a comment about how “coincidence” must have brought me to Sherman College, since I did not even know which school was looking for a Career Counselor when I originally applied for the job. Our professor, Dr. Val Pennacchio, spoke up and said that everything happens for a reason and it was likely that I was not at Sherman “by chance.” To this day, her words still resonate in my mind. She was correct, and I now look forward to sitting in that philosophy class again in the fall, this time as a chiropractic student.
I hope that when I enroll as a student at Sherman this winter quarter, I get another chance to say why I chose straight chiropractic and Sherman College. This time my answer will be very different. I am sure that I will mention how I want to help people, enjoy my job, earn a good income, and have time to spend with my family and my church. But this time I will also tell them how I believe that everything happens for a reason and how my life has directed me to Sherman College so that my time here could revive and refine my passion for the philosophy of straight chiropractic. I will say that I believe that there is a greater plan, a divine plan, for my life that includes advancing the philosophy, art and science of straight chiropractic to impact the lives of others for good.
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