Dr. Monk Monahan, talking about diseases for which there are absolute cures such as polio, gonorrhea and syphilis (the latter two which are needlessly still present in society), remembers back to the approach to the summer of 1963 when he was a freewheeling and irresponsible high school senior, and what made him change his life to want to become a doctor. He and his somewhat girlfriend Kathy spent all their time with another couple, Jim and Judy, who announced they were getting married before Judy went away to college. This news depressed Kathy as she too was in love with Jim without any of the other three knowing. On one last boys night out before the wedding that summer, Monk and Jim ended up getting together with prostitutes. After the fact, Jim felt guilty as sex without love didn’t feel right. Kathy saw the ensuing argument between Jim and Judy about the incident her opportunity to get in with Jim herself. After putting off ignoring the symptoms long enough, Jim, going to see a doctor, learned that he contracted syphilis. But Jim not being forthright about his sexual activities post contracting the disease may have put his sex partner and her sex partners at risk.