Response to Jesus Camp

First of all, I was disappointed. They went and found a small extremist group in the middle of nowhere and made it sound like they represented all of evangelical America. A group that was very steeped in denominational practices (pentecostal thus the speaking in the tongues, convulsion like prayer, the breaking of things, the crying, etc) that made them appear sort of hysterical to an outsider (and I am assuming that most people who watch this movie are not going to be from Pentecostal backgrounds) and I think this distracted from what the movie was really about.. It was sort of like taking the new documentary about FLDS (the group that BIG LOVE is fictionally written about) and making sweeping statements about Mormons.

Second I was disappointed in my fellow Christians. And yes I call them that. Not because I like what they do but because disassociating myself with them is not going to to teach them anything. If we have learned nothing from American politics and culture over the last five years, we should learn that more we fragment the more we fight and the less that gets done. Anyways, what disappointed me the most is that in all the preaching and yelling about sin, gulit, the holy ghost, politics, war and Bush, there was not much Jesus at Jesus Camp. We never once heard about his life. Jesus was a political radical and yet these political radicals never mentioned any of who he was. Where they cried for war, he cried for peace, while he cried for taking care of the captives, the orphans the widows, they passed out tracts and protested judicial nominees. They taught the doctrine of the elephant not the Bible even if they did pledge their allegiance to it. Heartbreaking and disappointing.

I have actually met one person who does not believe in Global Warming…he graduated from Liberty apparently Falwell preached on it in Chapel one day. He is a classmate and he asked me one day if I believed in global warming… Previous to that I would have been pretty darn shocked. Here is what amazes me and I wish the movie had brought out…for all of conservative Christians value of Creationism in the next second they claim that there is no responsibility, no stewardship of creation. Not biblical or logical. But not exactly a a friendly republican doctrine..yet again the bible is drowned out by political ideology. I was also disappointed in the science can’t prove anything was the response to the evolution and creationism debate that was portrayed…because again it was extreme and didn’t do much to shed light on the problem other than make the conservative view point look ridiculous.  What they were getting at is…macro-evolution has not exactly happened before our eyes, there is evidence but we have not seen it in the way that one has seen the law of gravity in action. Ironically both sides require faith that the missing pieces of evidence will be discovered or demonstrated. I think really one cannot attack evolution is one knows nothing about science, nor can one attack religion if one knowns little about scripture and theology.  And until we understand that…the debate will go no where.

Lastly, the division of church and state swings both ways. Democracy swings both way. While we all shake our heads at this movie and think what is our nation coming to, I bet you that church watches CNN while civil unions are legalized and shake their heads and think what is our nation coming to… The movie implied that they are bringing their religious beliefs into the public sector. Dangerous ground, I agree. However…I argue that its dangerous to take it to far the other way too. Do we limit their right to speak? Do we limit their right to dissent? Are we going to choose to be tolerant to everyone except those who don’t share the views we like? Thats not democracy. I don’t deny there should be limits on someone freedom to express their views (vandalizing, hurting people, etc).  I don’t deny that somethings people say make me really angry, righteously angry but I respect their right to say those things. Because I value my own right.  We have to be careful that we don’t have a knee jerk reaction.

Finally, us moderate and even liberal Christians need to put aside our dislike and our anger toward our fundamental brethren. And we need to stop sticking our noses up and stop dwelling about how mad we are or how ridiculous they make our faith look. We need to reach out to fundamentalists, we need to engage them in dialgoue and fight not with politics like they are trying to but with scripture and theology because they won’t be able to just write us off. We need to take out the political parties in our churches and put back the radical that Christianity was founded on, Jesus.

Med School Real World aka the Powerless Trip

The other day I was sitting with a group of my classmates and we got on the subject of the reality TV. Love it or hate it, our culture has decided its fun and its probably here to stay for a while.

Somebody was like wouldn’t it be cool if we they had a Med School Reality show. One of my classmates laughed, “No one would ever trust their doctors again.”

:::::cheesy theme music::::::::

cut to interview with 2nd yr medical student: “Yeah I never really go to class.”

Cut to another 2nd yr: “Sure I go to class gives me a chance to catch up on my ESPN.com.”

Cut another 2nd yr: I go to class but yeah I check my e-mail, send IMs, check my facebook twice an hour. You know keep up with everyone.

Can you name one important thing you have learned in medical school this week?

2nd yr: If you eat Polar Bear Liver you will kill your own liver

Another 2nd yr: Reindeer do not have gallbladders

Discussing big issues in medicine:

Yet another promising doctor: We evolved to starve, thats why we are all so fat.

A classmate: Did you hear that Southwest airlines is considering charing obese customers extra because they require a bigger seat?

….Reality TV and medical school should not be mixed.

Hospital Decorating

So my Dad is the head of a brand new state of the art mammography center (yes my Dad looks at breasts all day…stop giggling…you are so 12 yrs old…he is darn good at it.) with new digital mammograms machines (translation: shiny new digital cameras) and sterotatic MRI biopsy machine(cool video game like shiny machine that allows you to poke people with large needles with more accuracy). Anyways radiologists love new shiny machines, however since they live in dark rooms their interior decorating skills are usually lacking. Thus the group hired a interior decorator.

For some reason she chose mustard yellow, brown and red. Basically body fluid colors for the waiting area. She also chose very overstuffed sofas so that only one to two people can actually sit down on them and when they do they drown in throw pillows. You can just see the woman of Roanoke anxiously awaiting to be called in for their yearly NO-FUN exam feeling slightly nauseated as they sit on the puke/urine colored coach with blood red walls and poop colored throw pillows. Finally, they hear their name called but then they have to climb over a mountain of poop colored throw pillows to get up. Yesterday they ran out of seats. due to the overstuffed-ness. Also the decorator chose a variety of body fluid colored throw rugs. Which are a nice change from the ever cheerful gray hospital title except they are also a huge fall hazard. And considering that many of the patients are elderly, this is a big problem.

So Dad is trying to figure out what to do. Yesterday they brought in folding chairs and picked up all the throw rugs. He is frustrated…people can’t get mammograms in this County and instead of reading mammograms he is trying to prevent little old ladies from following and breaking their hips on the throw rugs or having to stand for an hour because there is not enough seats in the waiting room.

Why are hospitals always such a drag when it comes to decorating? I mean its either body fluid colors or sterile white or gray. Or worse yet extremely impractical! I went for my annual physical this morning and realized that reason number 457 why I love my family practice doctor here in Roanoke is she has plastered her walls with doctor related comics, poems and colorful pictures. It much more pleasant to sit on an exam table nearly naked if there are actual things to LOOK at other than your cold, shivering self. AND ITS CHEAP…its not like she spent loads of money or time on decorating. She also in the process of looking for Holiday or Winter potholders for her exam room stirrups instead of the normal sock covers. (she likes holidays, today she was wearing large turkey earrings).

In reality decorating doesn’t really effect the quality of care and considering how much health care costs, I don’t think we should spend loads of money on decorating. Yet it again when done well it can make the patient experience slightly less anxiety provoking and pleasant. When we do have to paint a wall or fix broken chairs we should at least try to think about the patients who will use the space. (i.e. throw rugs are a bad idea when a good portion of your population uses canes…COMMON SENSE PEOPLE…COMMON SENSE…)

THE LOOPHOLE

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of VA has taken the bait. One  way or the other I will have the same insurance policy till Jan 2011 either via the everlasting cobra plan (not free but not bad in the world of disability and insurance) or the appeal of my disabled dependent application (Free).

the world is resounding with my rejoicing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS:An  inpatient buddy of mine is going home for the first time in two years tomorrow in time for Turkey Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  God is Good.

The Saga continues

It’s Monday and my Mom calls to talk about HIPPA in the middle of my medical rationing discussion with my ethics small group. Its so ironic its funny. I just got through saying the Paul Farmer quote: “I took the Hippocratic oath that says first, do no harm and to care for the patient, I don’t remember anything about doing that cost-effectively.”

My mother can now quote obscure clauses in US insurance laws…within less than a week she knows more about HIPPA than I know about HIPPA or my Dad a doctor. She also has found yet another loophole that would extend my policy for exactly 36 months which is what it needs to do!!!! We are not optimistic but we are trying.  I have been to Student Services multiple times and still have no documentation. Ugh. I am frustrated.  But I can’t hate them because today I got an e-mail that said I had just been given another 2500 dollars in scholarship money!!!!!! Which means if I get my scholarship renewed from last year I only have to pay a 1000 dollars worth of tuition next semester.  So thats Awesome, God is good.