How you answer the question depends upon who you are and where your heart is.
Me? It all depends on how we look at it. Personally, I would use the money to send my two sons to better colleges. But what if I could use it only for Dynamic Chiropractic?
Maybe we would upgrade our typesetting equipment to improve the quality of the publication. Perhaps we would hire additional personnel to improve the content. Higher grade paper is a way of making "DC" more readable and better looking. We could even offer Dynamic Chiropractic on-line as part of various chiropractic computer networks.
The reality is that we have done all of the above over the last year. It has been well worth the expense.
What if this imaginary money could only be used for the benefit of the chiropractic profession?
Here is an interesting fact: Do you realize that $100,000 is almost half the amount of money needed to put the chiropractic documentary on national television? It would completely pay for a full page ad in USA Today -- almost two full page ads. That kind of money could reach millions of people for chiropractic. Fortunately, we have the Chiropractic Centennial Foundation carrying out that effort.
If you had that much money you could, for example, give the $100,000 to your favorite attorney. Isn't that a great idea? Afterall, that's what it can cost to file a lawsuit and follow it through to the next stage: summary judgment. Of course this would not include any costs you may have to pay for sanctions or to defend yourself against a malicious prosecution countersuit.
The full package can easily reach over $1 million. For what?
When you file such a lawsuit, the money has to come from somewhere. You may have to trade in your dreams for attorney bills. It may affect your business.
Would it be worth reducing the page size of our publication? No. Would it be worth substantially cutting our circulation? Never. How about letting the quality and content of "DC" grow stagnant and deteriorate while we focus on the lawsuit? Just the opposite.
Obviously, this would be totally unacceptable. Yet some people are willing to do just that to feed their own ego. As my father would say: "It's a matter of priorities." Again, the money has to come from somewhere.
A lawsuit is a very serious venture. It is easy to find an attorney to take your money. The hard part is finding the time and money you must personally spend (fortunately, Dynamic Chiropractic is very well supported by our insurance company).
There are so many positive things that can be done with that much money. Our efforts need to be directed towards the great things that wait to be accomplished, instead of sinking beneath the weight of bitterness and despair.
DMP Jr., BS, HCD(hc)
Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.