Sunday, February 15, 2009

Nurses Needed




Nuclear subs collide. Economic global collapse. Genocides. Mercury in our soft drinks, dental fillings and inoculations. Immigrants in the Army to gain citizenship, but not right away, of course. Tidal wave of sludge through Tennessee. Health care based on profit.

Everyday the headlines get worse. It's a no-wonder why some drop out in a stress induced puddle of pain. The flow of information never recedes and is always readily available. What kind of person doesn't see the pictures of war torn bodies of children have empathy and connection? What is this condition doing to our collective emotions? Can we face up and understand what this is doing to our society?

"Turn off the television. Don't listen to the car radio and, most of all, stay off the Internet." That's what I hear from a small voice in the back of my head. But I also know the cost of ignoring the suffering of individuals in your sight. It makes me less human. It makes me hard and rude. I don't like them around me and I don't like myself. Only by bonding, attempting to help, with an effort to relieve in some small way can I look in the mirror. Staying away from bad news is a temporary place, the world is a sick and I live here.

It takes an enormous amount of emotional intelligence not to collapse from the weight of negativity that surrounds us. Focusing on misery without a technique of getting out of it will hurt you badly. As a nurse may know, to engage a patient with kind, compassionate treatment and stay solid within when death comes is not a normal response, but learned. We have to be particular where we care deeply. Every instance of injustice outside of our immediate world has to be acknowledged and felt and at the same time processed in our minds in such a way to provide correct action in speech and action in order to call attention with insight. It must be done to engage another to help since the problem is always much larger than a single person can achieve a solution. Self-centered emotional pain is self defeating, unhealthy ego based and will hurt you.

Let's look forward and realize that we have plenty more than some and we better be willing to share with an open heart. The "us vs them" trick played on us is over and has led to much of this world situation, boiling right down to our personal relationships. It's time for each of us to be an emotional health professional treating everyone in our day with kind, compassionate treatment. The results may not be what we wish, but we'll be better inside for the next patient.

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