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.