They Went Thataway

Our profession, if indeed it is such, has undergone evolutionary development since its inception—an event which ought to be reckoned as far back as the first person who had well-developed entrepreneurial instincts, a good education, and generous helpings of intelligence and common sense. And that, I suspect, is a long time. I carefully refrain from making the tasteless claim that this may even make it the world's oldest profession. But, beginning with the mid-60s, I seem to detect a different kind of change; one which implies certain perils and which we can ignore only at grave risk. I think I can best communicate what I mean by, first, making a number of assertions which are, in my mind, incontrovertible fact; second, drawing a number of conclusions from these, and, finally, recommending a course of action capable of coping with the issue at hand.