It would make me nervous to watch a fire fighter starting a small fire to reduce a big fire. But it is being done. The idea is to create a burned out area, an area without fuel, in the path of the big fire. This must be risky given unexpected winds, speed and intensity of the advancing fire, and other unforeseeables.
It would also make me nervous to rely on homeopathic remedies for some sickness that plagues me. It would be somewhat analogous to the ‘fire with fire’ idea: fighting the big sickness with a smaller version of the same sickness. I believe it makes other people nervous, too. That may be why we do not hear much about homeopathic physicians. I am sure there is a reasonable explanation for the practice. It just sounds absurd to me, a layman.
Recently I came upon another such homeopathic solution for a different disorder. Caused by competition from online commerce many retail companies are forced to close down an increasing number of their physical brick and mortar facilities. At the same time a certain online company, for delivery efficiency reasons, is buying up and opening more physical facilities. To me this sounds suspiciously like fighting the decline of retail stores by adding more of them.
On the other hand, what if it works? I mean, the whole idea of fighting like with like, fighting a condition with that which caused the condition. When I try to get on to the freeway and the traffic is so heavy and fast that it seems there is barely an opening for one more car, what do I do? I don’t slow down or stop, do I? No, on the contrary. I cure speed with more speed and gently merge into the stream. The more I think of it the better the idea sounds to me. I should conduct a test. Maybe I will. My cardiologist, for example, does not want me to drink red wine although he admits that there have been studies that show that a little red wine with dinner could actually be helpful for my condition. My problem is the gap between his and my notion of what constitutes ‘little’. So for dinner tonight I will pour myself a regular glass of wine. And then, when I have sipped my puny allowance, I will pour myself another of the same poison. Let’s see if I will not feel just a little healthier.
(c)2017 by Herbert H. Hoffman
Picture credit: Crossfit Azusa