Tag Archives: relationship

Warrior Pride, and a Plea for Preserving Our Connections

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My heart feels unusually heavy this weekend. Two years ago today a beautiful young girl named Claire Davis lost her life to gun violence and her schoolmate’s rage.  It happened at my alma mater, Arapahoe High School, in Centennial, Colorado.  It had been almost two years to the day after the tragedy at Sandy Hook, and not 18 months since the horrible theater shooting just across town, in Aurora.  I remember thinking then, what is happening to us?  How does this kind of thing happen so often, and what kind of pain moves people to commit such violence, against others and then themselves?

I remember high school with great love and (Warrior) pride. Classes were challenging but not overwhelming.  Our volleyball team never had a winning season, but we had fun and learned teamwork.  Our speech team, on the other hand, won consistently, and competed at State every year. The excellence of our choir concerts and musicals rivaled professional companies I have seen (no help from me).  Some of my best friends are teachers I met at Arapahoe.  Their dedication to education, of others and themselves, even now in retirement, inspires me.  I had my core peer group (fellow nerds), but I was friendly with people in almost every social cluster.  I was one of maybe seven non-white students in my class of 462, but I never felt singled out or threatened.  Looking back, it was the relationships, as usual, that made my time at AHS special.

Today, I see so much more vitriol and violence in our world than even just 2013. Our relationships deteriorate faster than ever.  We oversimplify our political views to post on social media, looking for the most searing and aggressive words to make a terse point.  It’s as if we think 140 belligerent characters will make someone with an opposing view say, “Oh, of course, you’re right, I change my mind.”  We reply to others’ combative posts impulsively, defensively, and with hostility.  What good does this do anyone?  It certainly does not lead to any meaningful discourse or mutual understanding.  We write things on social media that we might never say in person, or at least not without thinking twice.  As a result, we feel indignant, offended, and angry.  We ‘unfriend’ one another on Facebook, narrowing our relations to the echo chamber of those who share our exact views, collectively deriding those who don’t.

There is no substitute for a face-to-face conversation, and the time and energy it takes to have one. It requires a certain degree of tolerance, and an unspoken contract of civility and courtesy.  We must choose carefully with whom we are willing to undertake such a venture.  And perhaps most importantly, we must be clear about our objective(s).  Do we really expect to change someone’s fundamentally held political or religious beliefs?  How realistic is that?  What other purpose, what other good, could possibly come from such conversations?

I propose that we seek these personal interactions to deepen and strengthen our relationships—our connections.  Social media, and probably media in general, constantly work to divide us.  We need to sit down with one another to reunite, find our common ground, and rediscover our shared humanity.  I believe this can only be done in person. It gives us a chance to practice our best skills in patience, curiosity, and withholding judgment. We must listen to understand, and not merely to reply or refute.   In the best of these conversations, we ask more questions and make fewer sweeping, generalized statements.  We avoid accusatory language, and say more, “Help me understand,” and, “What makes you think that?”  The key is to really mean it, though—we need to honestly seek to understand our counterpart’s point of view.

In the best cases, we each walk away feeling seen, heard, understood, and accepted—even loved—despite our differences. We pledge to continue the conversation, seeking always mutual understanding, bringing always mutual respect.  Let us start with our real friends.  Let us make it safe for those closest to us to express their views without fear of ridicule and contempt. Let us request the same of them, and practice openness and reflective listening in the harbor of established connection.  Emboldened with the courage to stand firm in our own beliefs while generously allowing others theirs, then maybe we can venture out into social media again, and serve to bring openness, generosity, and respect to our virtual relationships.

Maybe you feel confused—how did a post starting with the shooting at my high school end up as a plea for kindness on social media? I suppose blogging is, at times, an exercise in stream of consciousness.  Thank you for sticking with it to the end.  Your willingness to do so gives me hope that we can all move toward patience, generosity, and compassion.

Thank You, My Patients

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November Gratitude Shorts, Day 23 (I think they will all be late now…)

Though my formal medical training ended in 2002, my real education has continued in earnest since then.  I spent 7 years in my first practice, 5 years in the second, and I have been in my current situation about 18 months.  I have known thousands of patients in that time, some very closely, as well as their families.  It is perhaps the greatest privilege I can imagine, to be allowed so intimately into the lives of so many.

The best part comes after I have had enough encounters and important conversations to say that I truly know a patient.  When I can predict their responses to diagnoses or preferences for treatment; when I can tell by just looking how they feel physically, emotionally—that is when I know a true relationship is established.  Sometimes it’s built over many years of regular visits.  For others the interval is short, because they are dealing with some acute, distressing event or circumstance.  Coming through serious illness with a person bonds you like nothing else.  Sometimes it’s subtle, too.  You come in for a cold, but you never get sick, this time it got you and brought you down hard.  That’s a chance for me to ask some important questions.  What’s going on in your life today?  I never know what lies on the other side of that question, and it’s a tremendous opportunity for connection.

Or, our initial encounter (or two, or three) leaves me feeling tense and frustrated.  I start making up stories about you that may or may not be true.  The next time, we get to a point in the conversation where we can open up to each other about the relationship, and talk it out, figure out the best way forward.  Maybe we come to some new mutual understanding and everything changes for the better—these are the patients who teach me the most.  Other times we agree to part ways, and that’s okay too.  Not everybody is meant to be together.

Either way, there is no substitute for time and face to face meetings.  Every relationship is a two-way street, and my patients teach me every day about withholding judgment, staying curious, asking for their story, and telling the story that I make up.  They teach me to monitor my assumptions, ask more questions, and explain my rationale clearly.  They hold me accountable for my words and actions, as I hold them, too.

They make me a better person, every one.

My Friend Yakini

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November Gratitude Shorts, Day 22 (Late again!)

I give thanks for my friend Yakini.

Yakini ran the home daycare where both of my children spent their first two years. She and her family are our extended family, and boy, are we lucky. Grandma, Yakini, her husband Coffey, and their kids all participated in the care of the babies and toddlers, and all loved them.

In the beginning I called twice a day to check up, because my son had severe food allergies and eczema.  He would wound himself scratching every day after his nap. I had to make mitts that buttoned to his onesie sleeves, that the daycare had to put on and take off every day. One woman who worked at the daycare finally told me, “We take good care of your son.”  I said I know, I just worry. She said, “I know you worry, but you need to get a grip!”

My husband got nervous that the daycare would fire us for my high maintenance nagging. My mouth went dry when Yakini called that night to talk. This is it, I thought, we have to find a new place. But she didn’t fire us. She said she called to validate my behavior. She wanted to know what I needed to be free from worry and trust that my kid would be okay in her care. A sacred contract, she called it. We talked only a few minutes and I never had to check up again. That was over ten years ago.

Since then I have watched Yakini raise her own two children with high expectations, fierce love, and unwavering discipline. She does it all leading by example first. She studies the literature in child development, she knows the science of relationships. And then she puts all that information through her own core values filter, and determines for herself whether the expert opinions apply to her family. And if not, she keeps seeking, stays on the path, follows what she knows to be right, always guided by love first.

She posted a video of President Obama’s 11 ‘blackest moments’ on her Facebook page recently. Yakini and her family are black. And I have always felt her to be a sister. I shared the video and wrote, “Thank you for sharing, Yakini!! I’m not black, have no idea what it means to be black. But I love every one of these moments. I think that means something good.”

I think it simply means that I have had the privilege of knowing an incredible woman from an incredible family, to whom I relate because we share values and ideals about our world. Lucky me.