To my class this 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. It was so nice to hear about life from their perspective.
“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.
I’ve been thinking about
one of our past speakers for this semester, the one from S.A.N.E. Her
reassessment of religious belief and consequential conversion to Islam has been
on my mind. This is how things go, for all of us. Serves to remind us that sometimes
“our way” is not always static, that is, things change. People change. Our
views on things change. I don’t know the particulars of her experience, but,
what it sounds like is that she found something that she connected to,
something rang true for her, and she responded. How can we fault people when
they do that? It’s what we all do, what makes sense to us is what we follow.
Doesn’t prove that atheism is wrong or prove that Islam is right. What it says
is that she responded to something that meant something to her. What did Dr.
Mehta tell us a couple of weeks ago? “Accept truth wherever you find it?” Kudos
to her for following her convictions. What do you think? Have you ever been in
a similar situation?
On a similar note, I
know from your weekly writings that some of you in the midst of processing the information
regarding other groups, ways of life, ways of belief are struggling with some
of the implications and conclusions that you are coming to. Trust the process, what this tells me is that
you are open to considering the ways of other folks, and that you’re trying to
understand where they are coming from. THIS makes all the difference, and the
consideration that you are giving to them will be valuable to them and to
yourself. Again, all the class material is geared towards helping you better
understand where folks orient themselves from. You know more so you can respond
in a more helpful capacity. You can be an advocate for them. Nothing more. It
is possible to understand these things and not ascribe to them. F.Scott Fitzgerald
once said “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to
function.” I think it implies that we allow others to be as they are, without
judgment and that we AT LEAST consider all options (or in this case, their
views when they differ from ours). It could also mean that we have the ability
to UNDERSTAND opposing (or different) views and still keep our wits about us.
Either way it’s a tall order. Hang in there! You’re doing well at articulating
what you are experiencing.
Just a reminder about
next week’s journal entry. For next week's reflective writing you can chose to
discuss any past ereadings that you have not previously written up. The same
goes for the audio files. Make sure to include some AHAs and relate
things somehow to your lived experience. I would like to know your thoughts
about our guest speakers. Your feedback is most appreciated.
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