Disrespect by Any Other Name is Still Disrespect

Most of us were taught as children to respect people and titles. Throughout history, anyone disagreeing with the President would not dare exercise his or her freedom of speech in a public forum for the world to observe. What happened to basic respect? What happened to the civil training we received –or should have received as children? Today, September 11, 2009, is the 8th anniversary of the 9-11 attack on America. It was a blatant display of disrespect of the U.S. by terrorists. There was a time that no country would dare bomb America. But there was also a time that no American would blatantly disrespect the President of the United States –especially in a nationwide public address.

Does anyone remember Muntadhar al-Zaidi? He was the Iraqi news reporter who threw his shoes at former President Bush and called him a dog during a press conference at Prime Minister's Palace in Baghdad, Iraq. He was sentenced to 9 months in prison. His initial sentence was 3 years but was reduced because he had no prior criminal history. What is Rep. Joe Wilson’s sentence? Why isn’t he being called to resign? There was more outcry over Michael Vick’s dog fighting activity than a member of congress disrespectfully calling the President of the United States a liar in a very public arena. The Prime Minister of Iraq has more respect for our President than Congress Member Joe Wilson!

Is Rep. Joe Wilson so ignorant that he really didn’t think his outburst would not be dangerously interpreted by our enemies? Disrespect of the Office of the President of the United States is dangerous. So he issued an apology, so what! Here is his apology:

· "This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill," the congressman said in a statement. "While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”
Update: Wilson also reportedly called the White House to apologize; he spoke to Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. ― Alex Koppelman

I am not impressed that he apologized privately after an explosive public outburst. So what he admitted he has no control of his ‘emotions’. Why is he making decisions over the lives of others if he is not able to contain himself? I don’t believe him. He wanted to embarrass the President but instead embarrassed himself, his political party and South Carolina.

The Student Speech Brouhaha

The week prior to President Obama’s speech to the nations K-12 graders I read and heard both approval and disapproval. I wondered why there was any disapproval. I wondered what was the basis of the disapproval—the fear of his message. Anyone aware of the educational stats of U.S. students is familiar with the low performance of our students as compared to students in ‘poor’ countries around the world.

Our students should be made accountable for their participation in their education. What’s wrong with telling them that? President Obama is not the first president to address American students.

One commentator’s complaint was not about his message but his approach. She objected to his use of “instruction time” to get his message across. “The problem with the usurpation of nationwide instructional time on September 8 is not so much the message, but the manner. What gives Obama the legal right to trod upon the Constitution…” Linda Schrock Taylor, English composition teacher at a state university. I know it is said that one of the objections is the improper use of school time. Well, what about the instructional time used to teach tolerance of lifestyles? Where is the academic instruction during those sessions? But here’s my question to Ms. Taylor who didn’t seem to have an objection to the message but only the timing. What was the alternative? Show the speech at the end of the day and give it a ‘detention’ feel. But this is what I think is worse, she was one of many calling parents to take their children out of school—for the entire day—to avoid a 15 – 20 minute speech. Riiiiight!

I have spoken with students and teachers that heard the President’s speech and who thought it was encouraging. Not one person was in disagreement with what he said. So what was the brouhaha about? I read a copy of the speech I found on the internet and here is my only disagreement:

For students grades seven through 12, the government encourages students to "participate in a 'quick write' or brainstorming activity" before the President's remarks. (Why have them write anything before the speech? Let them listen to the speech and have a quick one-time discussion afterwards.)
"Teachers may post in large print around the classroom notable quotes excerpted from President Obama's speeches on education. Teachers might ask students to think alone, compare ideas with a partner, or share their thoughts with the class." (A one-time discussion after the speech is enough.)

I tend to agree with Progressive columnist and radio host, David Sirota, who said, “These are crazy people talking about pulling their kids out of school the day of the speech. These are people who just can't accept that Barack Obama was legitimately elected the President of the United States. Some of them can't accept it because he's a left-of-center liberal, and some can't accept it because he's black."

I didn’t hear from anyone I respect, including my grandsons, that the President said anything inappropriate to the students across America. I didn’t read anything inappropriate in the speech. So what was the true reason for the objection to his public encouragement to students? I don’t agree with the President on every issue, but this is one area he made cool points with me.

No Healthcare - No Dignity

Lately, I’ve awaken to wheezing and shortness of breath so I decided to go to The County Hospital to get a new inhaler. I have been without health care insurance ever since I lost my employment with a major telecommunications company. I once had excellent insurance in a PPO plan with one of the major insurance companies. I was made aware of the mast difference of insurance coverage I once had as compared to what the state offered because I had a very close friend who used the state’s medical card. She was a diabetic, like me. Our medical coverage was very different—until I lost my employment. Now I use the County Hospital coverage, which is not as extensive as the state medical card.

As I have done for the past few years, I went to the emergency room of The County Hospital to get a prescription for an inhaler. Making a decision to go to the County Hospital is not done hastily because going means hours of waiting on extremely uncomfortable chairs. The County Hospital emergency room operates much like all the emergency room of most hospitals: first come, first serve unless someone with a greater health emergency comes in. Also, as I have done in the past, when I entered the emergency room I quick glanced the entire room. Of course this is the usual assessment method to give myself an estimation of how long I may be waiting to see a physician. But that was the usual method; I didn’t expect a long delay because I had difficulty breathing.

In the past when I went to The County Hospital emergency room with asthmatic issues, I was seen quickly. At least it was quick by emergency room standards. On this day, however, I was not. The triage nurse gave me a facemask because of my frequent coughing and told me to be seated in a room down the hall from the waiting area. When I told her I would not be able to hear my name called she told me to be seated in the hall next to the waiting room. I knew of the H1N1 scare and I also knew coughing caused a panic. My cough was not caused by a cold or flu but something airborne that made my throat dry. I experienced this once or twice a year and is easily handled with an inhaler. Frequent coughs irritated and inflamed my bronchial tube and caused rapid breathing and wheezing. But triage nurse was only interested in isolation.

If you are experienced at emergency room etiquette you know that once you are seated in the waiting room, you immediately scan the room for all the patients ahead of you. As time passed I noticed most of people that were waiting before me were called to the physician examination area. I arrived to the emergency room at approximately 10:45pm. At 3:00am I decided that I would not continue to sit in the hall adjacent the waiting room because I felt I was forgotten even though I continued to see patients that had arrived for treatment ahead of me. I moved to the waiting area and hoped to be called to the physician’s examination area. While I waited, I saw a nurse stroll passed the waiting area several times. She walked from the physician’s examination area and within minutes would return to the physician’s examination area. Sometimes she would swing her arms like a bored child as she walked passed us.

The triage nurse was on break and so I asked the relieving nurse how many patients were ahead of me. He said five. I couldn’t believe it. A young woman who was one of the waiting patients heard my question and told me that she observed at least five patients were discharged but no patients were called from the waiting room to see the physician. As she spoke, a patient was discharged and used her cell phone to call someone to give her a ride home. The young woman asked the discharged patient how many patients were waiting in the physician’s area. The discharged patient said, “There’s no one back there.” I was stunned. Another woman who waited to be seen by the physician said to me “I can’t believe they let you sit here breathing like that.”

At 5:00am the strolling nurse was still pacing back and forth from the physician’s examination area; passed the waiting area to some room down the hall and back again. I asked the triage nurse who had returned from her break, how much longer before I would be called to see the physician. She smiled and said, “they are cleaning up back there and will call you as soon as they are finished.” Her smiled seemed unusual to me. It was almost a smirk. I decided I would wait only 15 more minutes. When the 15 minutes came and went I looked at the security guard who had been asleep for quite some time when he finally awoke approximately 5:25am. I asked him if there was a head nurse in the physician area. He told me to pick up the telephone on the wall and dial ‘0'. I did and told the operator that I wanted to speak to the head nurse for the emergency room. She told me to hang up and the head nurse would call me.

When the head nurse called I explained to her that all I wanted was a prescription for an inhaler. I told her that I had been waiting since 10:45pm and that for the past 2 – 3 hours 5 – 6 patients had been discharged but no patients were called from the waiting room to see the physician. She told me that I couldn’t just come to the emergency room and ask for a prescription that the physician would have to examine me. I told her that I have come to The County Hospital emergency room several times and knew the procedure. I explained again that at least 5 patients had been seen and discharged but no patients were called from the waiting room to see the physician. She told me she would check into it.

Five minutes after I spoke with the head nurse the strolling nurse came to the waiting room and called 5 patients to be seen by the physician. I noticed as I went into my assigned room that there were no nurses at the nurse’s station. As many times as I have been to the County Hospital’s emergency room, I had never seen an abandoned nurse’s station. Even though the other 4 patients had been waiting to see the physician longer than me, I was seen within 2 minutes by the strolling nurse who prepared me for examination. A few minutes later the nurse completed the consultation, the physician came and the nurse’s station was filled with nurses. I was finally discharged from the emergency room with a new inhaler. Of course the usual result would have been to receive a prescription for a new inhaler, but the doctor gave me an inhaler. I was glad because that meant it was not necessary for me to wait for the pharmacy to open to have the prescription filled.

I am convinced the nurses collectively decided to leave us in the waiting room for the next shift of nurses to arrive. With the rejection of a health care system that will benefit people like me without health insurance, more and more people will be forced to go to county hospitals for treatment. If my recent County Hospital emergency room visit is any indication of the lack of respect the medical community feels toward us we are all in for a rough future—medically.