Words As Weapons

Words are more powerful than weapons. They cut deeper and the scars last longer. Weapons cut into your body but words cut into your soul. Sometimes I wonder if the people that hurt with words are truly aware of how they are affecting the person they are directed at. One of my receptionists told me about a story that one of the doctors was recounting to the staff. One of the words that she used was very inappropriate. She could have had a choice of other words to replace it, but she chose to use it repeatedly. These words impacted a staff member. Everyone heard what was being said, but as our nature is, no one spoke up. People reeled in silence as the story went from bad to worse. Until the person who was affected comes to tell me, I cannot do anything. It is her choice to do so and I hope she does.

Signs Of Spring

There are many signs that spring has sprung. The air smells fresher, the days are longer, the daffodils are beginning to bloom and the cherry blossoms appear on the trees. Those are all nice signs but not the ones that speak to me. I know spring has finally arrived, when Ralph's ices reopens. That is the sign that summer is on the way.

Losing Power

My iPhone is acting up. I have it on the charger and it is losing power. The battery says that it is ok so what is wrong? I have been walking around the house plugging it into different rooms as I go. This happened a few months ago and I took it to the Apple store. They said it was fine, played around with it and things were great until now. I will try playing with it today and maybe it will snap back into shape.

Ebb and Flow

At least three times a year, I tell my boss that things in life ebb and flow. In life, as in business, there are highs and lows, good times and bad times, decline and regrowth. That is just how life is. When we have a streak of no new patients calling, she gets frantic and comes to me. I tell her that life ebbs and flows. You would think that after 15 years, she would know my answer to her question. I guess we all need to be reassured that things will be alright.

Final Disrespect

I never read the newspaper. I  do not have time and I do not want to know the world's unhappiness. I am fully up to date on what is important but do not want to know life's daily strife. The other day I had a few minutes so I skimmed the paper. As I got to the back, I saw a picture of a beautiful woman who was in the obituaries. The headline said, "Woman, 54, dies in house fire". It looked like a thirty year old picture, but most obituary photos are from a time when the person looked their best. I decided to read the article. It seems that there was an electrical fire in the woman's home and she and a tenant died. Then I read further and was appalled. Her family told a story of how she was an alcoholic, how she lost her children to her husband of 20 years, how she was so sick that they could never rekindle a relationship and how she died a drunk because the alcohol meant more to her than her family. How could a family strip this woman of her last ounce of dignity by airing her dirty laundry in a public forum? How heartless were they? In the article they called it, "her disease", so if they knew that it was a disease how could they fault her so cruelly? 

Precious Moments

It is the weekend again and my father is with us. I picked him up yesterday and he was very glad to be going to a change of scenery. As he got into the car, he said he wanted to go to the bagel store for lunch. Then as we were driving, he said he wanted ice cream for dessert. He sounded like a little kid, excited to be away for a few days. We went to the bagel store and after that we went to buy ice cream. He came to my house and took a nap. He then had dinner and dessert and we watched some television. Before I knew it, my sister came to get him. He had such a nice day. Today we will take him wherever he wants to go. Each moment with him is a precious gift.

Admissions

Right now, in my office, three people were waiting for a letter of acceptance to the PhD program at a local college. Two of them are recent graduates and one already has her Master's Degree, worked in the field for ten years and wants to become a psychologist. The two recent graduates were accepted last week. The third person is still waiting to hear from the school. The two that were accepted have not made it public yet because they do not want to upset the third girl. I found out from my boss. The first two are nice kids with good grades and no real psychology background. The third is a brilliant girl who is the most competent person I ever met. She has more knowledge than most psychologists and even psychiatrists. She knows medications, side effects, dosages, therapies and has a great skill calming and comforting patients. She runs groups and has started support groups for conditions that other people did not think were important. She is now doing a drug study for the FDA to approve a medication for depression, for people that are drug resistant. Her grades are wonderful and she thought her interview went very well. Why did she not get her approval yet? The program is limited to 25 students. Is she the 26th? Has another student's family bribed their way into the program? With all of the publicity about the college admission scandal that has erupted this week, it makes me think. If she is not accepted, it is not only a loss to her, it is a loss to the world. When people think that bribing their way into a place they do not belong hurts no one, they need to think again.