I remember when I was about 25 years old, my father showed me how to change the front end suspension on a VW that I had just driven all the way across the country. In addition to needing new rubber parts and ball joints replaced, there was a thing called a steering pamper which kept the whole steering linkage from vibrating as it reacted to bumps and ruts in the road.
After that, he showed me how to adjust the alignment. Then we took it to a place to have the wheels balanced.
Once these things were done, the car ran beautifully. And most of the important work my father did as he demonstrated the procedures to me.
He told me, "Don't let anyone know you can do this, because you will end up doing it for your friends and relatives for the rest of your life for free."
Now I have multiple sclerosis, and I have trouble doing things that were easy for me in the past. And I can see how the advice my father gave me about automotive repair applies to everything. It seems that people who know what I was able to do before becoming disabled think that I must be able to do the same things now. Or if I have trouble doing something, that I must not be using skills and knowledge some other reason.
Modern science and medicine have never been able to explain how multiple sclerosis is caused, and they have not found a cure for it. I am stunned at the number of people who believe that there is a conspiracy keeping the cause and cure a secret for some kind of financial or political gain, but for those who believe I am keeping such secrets I have a large degree of resentment.
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JFC
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