By Richard J. Davis, DC
Well I finally made it. Born in New York City some eighty years ago, I longed for something, but didn’t know what. Being taught city life and the social graces simply increased my feeling that something was false, something was missing in my life. I moved to Worcester Massachusetts to attend an engineering college, graduated and moved to a suburb of St. Louis. Both Worcester and suburban St. Louis satisfied my longing to live where I could cross the street without dodging taxis, and where there were some trees and grassy yards.
Then, getting to understand, and to some extent live the culture and ethics of Native Americans revealed to me that there was, indeed, another way of living, and that I was not the only one who felt that way.
After my second schooling, that of becoming a doctor of chiropractic, and practicing for fifteen years, I retired and moved further from New York City, to a sparsely populated, unincorporated area of Washington County, Missouri. The nearest store or gas station is fifteen miles away, and the nearest specialty stores is more like forty; the air is pure, and the water comes directly from the earth without contamination, chlorination, fluoridation, flocculation or other processing. It is absolutely pure and delicious!
Our springs abound with watercress, persimmon trees bear wonderful fruit, and black walnuts ripen and fall from the trees by the bushel. My wife Susan and I planted fruit trees, berry bushes, cantaloupe vines, basil, tomatoes and veggies of all sorts. Surely, one could live on this land without running to the grocery store. But balance being important, an occasional shopping trip is made to buy wine, cheese, sea food, and other “essentials” for the palate.
Old Mines, Missouri is, along with St. Genevieve, the oldest town in Missouri, dating back to about 1690, and founded in the 1700’s. Settled by the French, it retains its heritage and is populated by descendents of some of the original settlers. People are well educated, friendly and welcoming beyond what I have experienced in my years elsewhere. Only twenty-five miles from our home, Old Mines is the center of our social life.
So what does this have to do with The Healthy Planet? Well, I finally made it. I live in a healthy and ecologically pure spot on the planet in an environment of, pure food, pure water, and the true honesty of the Earth and its people – that is, in harmony with nature.
I am very happy and no longer have feelings of longing for the something that is missing. To you, readers of this wonderful publication, I say ‘as you live your lives, live as close to nature as possible for where you are at the time’. It will be healthy for you and healthy for our planet.
Dr. Davis is a semi-retired doctor of chiropractic who diagnosed and treated his many patients through the combined sciences of applied kinesiology, chiropractic, and acupuncture. He now resides in rural Missouri, about sixty miles from St. Louis and can be reached by phone at 573-678-2979, and by e-mail at chiro94@aol.com.