Free Rice

The other day, there was a unique segment on the evening news that caught my attention. It was about a website called Free Rice (www.freerice.com). Apparently, Free Rice is an online vocabulary game people can play for free - and then some. For each word the person gets correct, the website donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to feed those in need around the world.

Again, it is free for you to play. The rice is paid for by those who advertise on Free Rice.com. So, while you are caught up in the vocabulary extravaganza, don't forget to check out the advertisements on the site!

Finally, if you enjoy learning and using new vocabulary words like I do (and even if you don't), you should know this game can only make you more intelligent while, at the same time, doing a great thing for the world. After all, knowledge is power!

Drunken Friend's Tampon

Today, I was talking with a friend who told me this very interesting story about a time that she and some of her gal pals went on vacation to Vegas. She has given me permission to type the tale in this blog. As you read, keep in mind the question, "What would you do for a friend?"

The story begins...

The girls, a group of three or four friends, went out to dinner one evening there at one of the ritziest dining locations in all of Vegas. Celebrities, my friend said, are known to frequent this restaurant location. Throughout the evening, my friend and her gal pals had several alcoholic beverages to drink. At the end of the night, it was apparent one of the girls had drunk to the point of drunkenness.

As they exited the restaurant that night, the drunken girl came to the sudden realization she had to pee and that she could not hold it in. Without a care in the world, she promptly dropped her pants and panties right there on the sidewalk, squatted, and began peeing. She didn't seem to care that Brad Pitt, or the police for that matter, might have been lurking right around the corner of this posh hub.

Still peeing, my friend had to prop the girl up to make sure she didn't tumble. While doing this, my friend happened to notice the girls' panties. Besides getting drunk, the girl had also, unbeknownst to herself, started her period. Her white pants now donned a not so stylin' crimson spot in the crotch.

Astonished, the girls asked their friend if she knew she had started her period. Not seeming to mind, the girl looked down at her panties and replied, "Oh yeah, it looks like I did!" La dee da. So, the group of friends helped the girl to stand up and then got her back to the hotel room where she immediately passed out on the bed.

Many friends would have simply called it a night at this point, but not these girls...

Since their drunken friend was now passed out cold and obviously incapable of good hygiene for a few hours, one of the girls began to ponder, "Should we change her tampon?" Hmm.

My friend said she thought real hard about it but then decided she couldn't bring herself to do such a thing. However, one girl in the group did step up to the challenge. As my friend described, this girl must have had, "the spirit of a nurse."

It was a simple case of out with the old and in with the new as the willing friend simply pulled out the old, bloodied tampon, and put in a new, fresh one for her friend. Then, the night was over. The girls all got a good night's sleep, no worries.

Now, ask yourself this question:

"Would I change my drunken friend's tampon?"

Would you?

Respect

The word, “respect,” is a simple yet powerful, and often taken for granted, word. It’s not just that this little word is the title of a frequently belted out song, but one can argue that respect is also one of the greatest of human desires.

A legend once said, “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” There is not a quote that better verbalizes this desire than the one above by baseball great Jackie Robinson. Have you ever sensed these exact words emanating from another person while in the midst of speaking with them?

In working with my patients, I see and hear many different life stories. Indeed, each person I work with has a unique identity, an idiosyncratic story comprised of any array of experiences and perceptions. However, one consistent thing I have noticed when counseling my patients, and/or their families for that matter, is their seemingly common, and typically unspoken, desire to feel respected.

Sometimes, as I have learned when speaking with patients, having all the right answers at hand is far less important than conveying to that patient that you respect and care about them due to the simple fact that they are human, capable of both fallacy and accuracy. This is a basic concept in working with any patient and is part of the rapport-building phase of a professional working relationship. Yet, often enough, I see how easy it can be for people to skip this basic and most important step in their professional relationships with others – and often in their personal relationships, for that matter.

Part of conveying this respect to others first involves self-examination to know ones own values, fears, and biases. One must learn to be aware of these and recognize when or if they might interfere with ones professional judgment. Becoming aware means knowing your views like the size of your shoes (yes, that rhymes). In working with patients, one then learns to convey respect through active listening, genuine interest in what the other person is communicating, and having true empathy for the individual. Pretty Rogerian, isn’t it?

In closing, none of the aforementioned is always easy and, even more, no human is consistently, if ever, perfect. Sometimes we get tired. Other times we feel stressed or maybe even depressed. However, we should do our very best in striving not to let these things get in our way of showing true respect to others based on the simple fact that they are human as we ourselves are human.