Several years ago, fate intervened to inspired Gary LeRoy, MD, FAAFP to write a book. With the editing assistance of Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Executive Vice President Ann Spicer, he submitted the manuscript for “Quotes from the Edge of Nowhere – The Art of Noticing Unnoticed Life Wisdom” for publication later this year. Rather than wait for its fall release, he asked the OAFP staff to give Academy members something to fill up about 30 minutes of their quiet time.
It is his hope that a chapter or two will provide some element of hope or ignite an amber of inspiration during the moments of solitude of this unprecedented global crisis, COVID-19. If nothing else, it will give those who take the time to read each little chapter something to mentally reflect upon.
Until the COVID-19 crisis officially ends, the OAFP will publish one chapter each week in the Weekly Family Medicine Update and then archive that chapter on its website. The book has 10 chapters. It is Dr. LeRoy’s sincere hope that we, as a nation, emerge from this crisis long before the OAFP can publish the 10th and final chapter.
Chapter 6: “The ONLY genuine expert opinion of the future is one given by someone who has been to the future and returned to the present to reveal their personal experience of what tomorrow has in store.”
Malcolm was abruptly startled from his sleep by a frightening dream or vision he experienced just prior to awakening. Panicked, he clumsily climbed out of bed and rushed to his bedroom window. There he stood in the dark looking into the distance at a little wooden cottage on a hill illuminated by the twilight’s glow. Malcolm stared at the house as his mind took him back to the terrifying details of the dream that had shaken him from his sleep. In his dream, that same little wooden house on the hill was ablaze with fire that quickly reduced the structure and its lone occupant to ashes.
Before going back to bed, he wondered if he had this premonition because the old lady in the house was ill or dying. This thought continued to haunt him as he drifted back to sleep.
The next day Malcolm could not get the vivid dream to vanish from his mind. Toward the end of his workday, he decided to stop by the little cottage to check on the old lady.
If a prophet foretelling your future knocked on your door, would you let them in? Most of us would think they were crazy and demand they go away. However, we consistently seek knowledge about the future everyday through statistical analysis, scientific forecasts, advice columns, social media, gossip, horoscope predictions, expert opinion givers, and self-proclaimed modern-day prophets who have never been to the future.
Read Chapter 6 to learn the future of Malcolm and the old lady.
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