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There Will Be Blood, Changing Demographics and the Election

The following is my reflective writing to my class for the week:


Well there you have it, those identifying as Jehovah Witness do not have a death wish.  They don’t want to be martyrs for their faith. They love life and want to live. Contrary to what many of us might have thought beforehand.  I enjoy hearing from these folks in our class. They come well prepared and you can tell that they want you to have specific information relating to health care practices. Good questions from you as well and I found the answer to my question, that is, do they engage in civic exercises such as voting. Loud and clear you and I heard that they (as a group) do not participate in this “worldly” activity. Their interpretation of their religious text tells them to be separate from the world. It was so nice to hear about life from their perspective.
So it goes…the election process is FINALLY over. Can we all just breathe a collective sigh of relief? It’s done and that’s that. I left campus, went home and was glued to all the election coverage until about 1:30 in the morning. I had to know what was going on and what the results would be. Interesting was what commentators were talking about after it was all said and done. Regardless of any of our party affiliations and proclivities, here’s what people are saying today. The election results depended heavily on the input and involvement of women, African Americans, and Latinos. The Obama team was smart in reaching out to these groups and they seemed to better understand that the demographic make-up of America is changing. These statements made me smile; this is something that we in public health understand; this change and shift in the population make up. We’ve been talking about it for years, and even discussed this in class. We would all be wiser to better understand the world in which we live in, and that change can take place if we “invite people to the table.”  I’m not trying to be political here, what I’m saying that considering the voices of “Others” is beneficial. It certainly was beneficial to Obama and to his party in a political sense. It is also beneficial to those of us who work in health related fields.  “Health care is effective when the spiritual and cultural traditions of the patient are addressed.” We come from many diverse perspectives, beliefs, and practices. “E pluribus unum ~out of many, one.” What I hope you are taking away from our class lectures, Ereadings, activities, and speakers is that although it can be a challenge at times, cultural diversity and competency can also be a blessing to us as well. We better understand Others and ourselves and then come together to help folks have better health outcomes. We’re all better for this process. There is value in this.

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