9.04.2008
Shorter Sarah Palin
(Did you notice I'm not wearing a manpantsuit?)
JOHN MCCAIN
I'm fecund! (cue to family members, including the not mentioned but frequent camera subject "how-the-hell-did-I-get-here" boy-fiancee) and my GUY kicks ass on a snowmobile!
JOHN MCCAIN WAS A POW!
Barak Obama just a pansy-assed community organizer elitist who might want to protect the Constitution!
Alaska has all the oil we need--come and take it!
Why isn't all America White like us?
JOHN MCCAIN!
I'm FECUND (cue to family again--mental high-five for audience aahhing when daughter who will partly raise the baby licks her palm and smooths the baby's head).
JOHN MCCAIN IS A MAN!
JOHN MCCAIN
I'm fecund! (cue to family members, including the not mentioned but frequent camera subject "how-the-hell-did-I-get-here" boy-fiancee) and my GUY kicks ass on a snowmobile!
JOHN MCCAIN WAS A POW!
Barak Obama just a pansy-assed community organizer elitist who might want to protect the Constitution!
Alaska has all the oil we need--come and take it!
Why isn't all America White like us?
JOHN MCCAIN!
I'm FECUND (cue to family again--mental high-five for audience aahhing when daughter who will partly raise the baby licks her palm and smooths the baby's head).
JOHN MCCAIN IS A MAN!
9.02.2008
Project Blog It: Certitude
I was certain I'd never get around to posting this week. However, yesterday I recalled the words of a man I briefly dated post-divorce: "certainty is the death of creativity." In retrospect, I think he was primarily making a case for never committing. However, this idea has been on my mind.
Some of the most mentally and intellectually sterile people I've ever known are people who live and work out of their certainty that the world as they see it is absolutely reflective of objective reality. It will come as no surprise to those who know me well that this sterile group is composed of a wide variety of Christian evangelical folks. Smart? Kind? Compassionate? Many of them, yes. But creative? Not as much. It is hard to think outside of the box when you believe your box is the only one that matters.
I worked for a woman who was (and likely still is) certain that she was the world's greatest boss, when in fact her likely Axis II diagnosis made working for her an almost daily nightmare. She knew how to make money and she depended upon employees when creativity was needed.
One of the few real certainties in this life is that we all die. Of profound uncertainty of course though, is how and when we will die. For patients referred to our palliaitve care program, a physician needs to comfortably say that he/she wouldn't be "surprised" if the patient died in one year or less. The physicians I work with are never certain that the morphine, oxycodone or methadone they prescribe will adequately manage pain--it requires clear communication with the patient about his/her personal goals and needs as well as creativity and the willingness/ability to think broadly or narrowly as required. I am certain that every time I pick up the phone to call a patient, his or her story will be different and determining an outcome that will best help the patient's position of uncertainty requires creativity on my part.
Some of the most mentally and intellectually sterile people I've ever known are people who live and work out of their certainty that the world as they see it is absolutely reflective of objective reality. It will come as no surprise to those who know me well that this sterile group is composed of a wide variety of Christian evangelical folks. Smart? Kind? Compassionate? Many of them, yes. But creative? Not as much. It is hard to think outside of the box when you believe your box is the only one that matters.
I worked for a woman who was (and likely still is) certain that she was the world's greatest boss, when in fact her likely Axis II diagnosis made working for her an almost daily nightmare. She knew how to make money and she depended upon employees when creativity was needed.
One of the few real certainties in this life is that we all die. Of profound uncertainty of course though, is how and when we will die. For patients referred to our palliaitve care program, a physician needs to comfortably say that he/she wouldn't be "surprised" if the patient died in one year or less. The physicians I work with are never certain that the morphine, oxycodone or methadone they prescribe will adequately manage pain--it requires clear communication with the patient about his/her personal goals and needs as well as creativity and the willingness/ability to think broadly or narrowly as required. I am certain that every time I pick up the phone to call a patient, his or her story will be different and determining an outcome that will best help the patient's position of uncertainty requires creativity on my part.
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