Having our backs

I recently received a couple of emails from a nurse concerned with a coworker who had been suspended pending an investigation.  I won't go into any details other than to say that the suspended nurse is well respected by his coworkers. The following is part of two emails between us.

Thank you for all you are doing to help our fellow co-worker, and by extension every nurse at Backus. I used to be against having a union but I think it has actually benefited us tremendously.  Thank you again for helping all of us and responding to my e-mail.  Hopefully everything will turn out okay.

Thank you to this nurse for her kind words.

I remember when we were organizing someone opposed to our efforts said, "They'll get tired of fighting management and in the end management will win anyway."
I thought, what a defeatist attitude, and I felt sorry for this person.
Sometimes it can be tiring for those of us most involved.
I know that not every member can invest the time that the officers and delegates do. Many of you have small children, elderly parents and other obligations and it can take a tremendous amount of time and energy.

Even the officers and delegates get tired.
It would be easier to sit back and let others direct our professional lives.

It just wouldn't be right.

Not right for us, and certainly not right for our patients.

So thank you again for these kind words. Your support is what get us up each morning to fight the good fight.
Knowing you have our backs makes all the difference in the world.

Water

Water gave us life.

Stand at the edge of the ocean in your bare feet.
You know, that area that is in the water,
but not,
depending on whether the last wave has returned to the sea.

Slowly, your heals will begin to start sinking into the sand, each wave taking away a few grains of sand. In a short while, if you can keep your balance, you’ll find the arch of your foot in contact with the sand.  Stay there longer and your entire foot will sink down, enveloped by the beach.

It’s almost like Mother Nature knows you’re there, your bare feet in contact with her, your skin in direct contact with her ocean.  It’s almost like she wants to connect with as much of you as she can, and by pulling away the sand under your feet, she connects with every inch of you that she can, in a motherly hug.

Water can also teach us how to live.  The oriental philosopher, Lao Tzu, said that if you toss a rock into water it will make a big initial splash, but after quietly making way for the rock, the water will begin a slow process of erosion, until at last, the rock is reduced to a few grains of sand.

Water wins in the end because it is flexible and the rock is not.
One of my son's trauma surgeons  said that in school they were taught that the face was the shock absorber for the brain.
I wonder if Lao Tzu taught that class.

I have always been amazed that the majority of this planet is salt water and so to is the majority of our bodies.  When I did a little reading, I found out that we have within our veins, sodium, potassium, and calcium in almost the same proportions as the oceans, and that the “sea” within us has the same saltiness as the Precambrian seas of three billion years ago!

It seems that when we left the sea we took a part of it with us.

No wonder we are drawn to the sea.  No wonder Mother Nature seems to want to envelope us when we stand in it’s edge. No wonder water is such a good teacher.

Turn the other cheek

The phase, “a slap in the face” is both interesting and informative.

Mathew wrote on the Sermon on the Mount, 
"But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."

I always thought this meant to be passive, to not fight back.  Then I heard it explained in another way by a priest.

At the time it was written, striking someone deemed to be of a lower class was done with the back of the hand. (backhanding someone) It was used to assert authority and dominance. 
If the persecuted person "turned the other cheek," the discipliner was faced with a dilemma. 
The left hand was used for unclean purposes and could not be used to strike someone under any circumstances. The only way to use the right hand to strike an other's left cheek, was to slap with the open hand or a punch, both of which were seen as a statement of equality. 

So, yes, turning the other cheek is a nonviolent response, but it is also a response that demands respect.

Strike me if you wish, but do so as an equal.

Forming a union and standing up for yourself, does not mean you will never again take a backhand to the face. 

It means that now you can offer the other cheek.

Grateful Gifts

My son was moved out of ICU today!
One week ago he had a bad accident which required a 5 hour surgery by two teams of surgeons. He faces a long recovery which will have it's challenges, to be sure, but he will recover.

Two days ago he was waking from a medication induced 5 day sleep, yesterday morning he tried to write and it looked like chicken scratch, today he was writing clearly, and just now he said goodnight and love you to his son over the phone, wired jaw and all.

 I think of what might have been.

I can only think that he must have a purpose to fulfill, hence the second chance.
I think back to his grandfather, my dad, burned so bad in World War II that he spent a year in the hospital. He not only survived, he went on to raise 6 children.  Surely we children owe something to God or the universe for the gift of our father's survival, because except for that we would not have been born.

But haven't we all been given that gift?  Even if we have not come close to death, we were given the gift of life when we were born.  What do we do with that gift?

Each of us also has talents, which are gifts, freely given to us.  Sure, hard work has in many cases been necessary to develop those talents, but the natural ability was given to us.

Maybe we have a wonderful voice, maybe a quick analytical mind, maybe a skillful hand, maybe the ability to see something beautiful in a block of stone and to bring it to life. Maybe we can lead people, or listen, or care for and heal.
I believe that we have an obligation to take the gifts we have been given and not hoard them for our own gain, but freely give them to others.  Our purpose may not be to surgically stitch together the facial bones of a young man.  Our purpose may be to tenderly clean his face of dried blood so that he and his family feels better.
In doing these things,both the surgeon and the emergency room tech gave back the gifts that they had been given.
Both actions were marvelous examples of the best of human endeavors, caring for each other with the gifts we have received.  The surgeon and the tech were equally skilled at their task, and each task was equally important.

I am feeling very grateful tonight, for my family, for the health care workers caring for my son, for his continued improvement, and for all the gifts I have been given.

There is no I in Union

There is no I in Union.

Well, OK, there is.......... but it starts with U (you).

With my son in the hospital I emailed the delegates to tell them that I wouldn't be able to be at their meeting tonight.

Our treasurer, Donna, sent me this...

"John, I am so very happy that you won't be at the meeting tonight!" 

Wait a minute.....

She followed it with this....

"You need to be with your family and as much as we will miss you I am happy to know you have faith in us."

Oh, OK then.

I truly believe that the best way to manage is to surround yourself with good people, give them the support and tools they need, and then let them do their thing.  Being Local President is like that.

However, I do have a tendency to say YES to everything.  I think I can do all.  My friend Stephanie believes I have a Chuck Norris Complex.  I think all nurses have a little of that.

When I bowed out of the meeting, our Vice President, Melissa, echoed Donna's sentiments.  She said, "We got this."  Then she twisted her ankle at work and had to head home.  In stepped the Donna 1 and Donna 2, our Treasurer and Secretary.  "We got this."  

And you know what, they and our delegates do have it, because Union may have an I, but it starts with U.

You know what else has a U?

Nurse.

And our Union nurses do "have it", day in and day out, at Backus, and all the other hospitals, including UMass, where my son is in their fine care.

One of my Nursing School Instructors told me that I would make a good nurse but that no one would ever realize it if I didn't improve my spelling.

But I think that as long as I remember the correct placement of U and I, 

I'll be OK..