Just in case anyone was wondering, since it came up today in class-
the definition of ignorance is to be without knowledge of a specific topic. The definition of naive is having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information. They're not the same thing and definitely should not be treated as such. They're synonyms only in that the same could be said of being forthright, or natural, or virgin.
The connotation of ignorance is of willful unknowing, like that of disregard or of philistinism, while naivete is associated with innocence, childishness, and candor.
There's a difference between being ignorant of cultural competency and being naive of cultural competence.
When I and my classmates go in to practice, we will both have people who are offended that we ask them what gender they identify with and people who will be offended if we don't ask. We will make mistakes, occasionally asking a race-loaded question or by assuming social status. The people we come in contact with will be sensitive to different areas of cultural awareness. For instance, any long time reader here might be aware that I have an extreme sensitivity to social class divide, which comes up nearly every day at my gifted and often entitled school.
I would hope that each person who leaves a cultural competency class will find that there are many assumptions that we hold about the world that informs our every action and word. We use unintelligible idioms every day, shop at certain stores, expect some traditions, like Christmas, or gender identification. The important thing is that we understand where our limitations are-- That when we mess up and wish a wiccan a merry christmas, we can honestly and humbly say "My bad. Happy holidays."
The truth is that not a single one of us has the right to say that the other person is wrong in their belief, practice, tradition, or identity.
(and for those who might claim immediately that of course there is wrong and that I'm a godless heathen for saying there isn't- remember that the Bible says "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Matthew 7:1)
Every person has a right to live their own lives in the best way that they can live them, according to the vision and fate that they follow.
Every person will be at a different point in their own journey.
Some of them might be ignorant. I know I'm ignorant of a great many things, like higher maths, astrophysics, and how to pull a heater core out of a truck. I could learn these things, but I'm not interested.
Some of these people might also be naive, as I believe every person is of some concept or another. I don't necessarily know what I don't know. It's not willful. If I'm offending someone by not knowing something, I truly hope that I'll be told so that I can then be ignorant of it, and hopefully eventually competent in that topic.
As a future physician, I know that I will need to ask about sensitive information. I know I might even have patients that I don't resonate well with, or with whom I flatly disagree. That's not going to change my standard of care- because I'm here living my dream. My dream is to help people find the healing within themselves, regardless of race, religion, gender identification, ignorance, or naivete.
And I hope that everyone shares at least the "regardless of race, religion, gender identification, ignorance, or naivete" half of my dream.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
segmental time.
I haven't had much to say, and even less time to say it in, but today is special.
It's a Wednesday, you see.
On Wednesdays in the 7th week of first year spring term, I only have one class and that class has a test.
So without further ado, let the last minute procrastination update begin:
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I got my hair cut last week. I hadn't cut it in 7 years. I'm still marveling at how light my head is, how little time it takes to dry, and some of the hairstyles that work far more efficiently at -18" of normal.
When I got my hair washed at a salon during winter finals (when I was still all wheelchaired up and holding my arms up with the weight of hair was impossible), my "Hair Goddess", as her business card declared, told me I should cut my hair. Not just because of how damaged it'd become over the three months o' misery, but because "Hair is the only weight we choose to bear".
and the more I thought about it, the more I needed something easy and light in my life. One of my dear classmates asked for the task, and I figured it was time. I went to her house, she poured me a tequila mojito, and the event began, inch by inch.
Best haircut I've ever had. No trauma, lots of are-you-sures, patience, good company and tequila. If she wasn't going to be such a fabulous doctor, I'd beg her to open a salon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On another side of life, another classmate is letting me read through her books.
I'm starved for novel time, just at the moment, so I'm flying through them. I read three last night and this morning while I should have been studying for this test.
She also gave me a treat, which pretty much made my week. Normally I hate Mondays- I start out with office work, have a hasty lunch, sit through four hours of lecture and then go in to the chaos that is a modality lab where I always do the work because I'm contraindicated to receive.
This last Monday though, my bosses were away, so I got a long morning to study, the first class was more clinically relevant and really held my attention, I got a treat and encouragement, the second class was canceled, so I got to study, and the lab wasn't half bad even though I still did all the work. It was a better learning experience for me to see where I was weak in the protocol. Then I got to go home and use my treat- seaweed and arnica bubble bath! It was so fantastic. For those of you who don't know the magic that is the herb arnica, it's used as a vasodialator and pain reliever to speed healing of bruises, sprains, strains, and all your other bumps and bruises. It's the western European version of tiger balm.
I sank beneath the juniper, lavender, lemon, and pine scented foam and reemerged a new being, less fatigued, less in pain, and in much better spirits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last weekend was the naturopathic philosophy retreat.
I gotta love any day that starts out with a morning song and a mandatory 1.5 hour barefoot nature walk. I found a broken building full of bats, and coyote tracks, and a bunny, and a wren's nest, and a friendly tree, and some stinging nettles, and a banana slug to cure the stings from the stinging nettles, a fun mud puddle, a stick, and a good hill for rolling down.
Never give up your childhood.
There's a lot of joy in just being outside if you don't have so much pressure on what you have to do whilst you're out there.
In addition, I learned about detoxing principles, fun ways to share the medicine with people who don't know what it is or believe in it, some good northwest herbs, and how to make flower essences.
I was also in two amazing massage chains, and had some great beer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now it's much later in the morning of the 7th Wednesday of spring term.
Time for more books.
It's a Wednesday, you see.
On Wednesdays in the 7th week of first year spring term, I only have one class and that class has a test.
So without further ado, let the last minute procrastination update begin:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got my hair cut last week. I hadn't cut it in 7 years. I'm still marveling at how light my head is, how little time it takes to dry, and some of the hairstyles that work far more efficiently at -18" of normal.
When I got my hair washed at a salon during winter finals (when I was still all wheelchaired up and holding my arms up with the weight of hair was impossible), my "Hair Goddess", as her business card declared, told me I should cut my hair. Not just because of how damaged it'd become over the three months o' misery, but because "Hair is the only weight we choose to bear".
and the more I thought about it, the more I needed something easy and light in my life. One of my dear classmates asked for the task, and I figured it was time. I went to her house, she poured me a tequila mojito, and the event began, inch by inch.
Best haircut I've ever had. No trauma, lots of are-you-sures, patience, good company and tequila. If she wasn't going to be such a fabulous doctor, I'd beg her to open a salon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On another side of life, another classmate is letting me read through her books.
I'm starved for novel time, just at the moment, so I'm flying through them. I read three last night and this morning while I should have been studying for this test.
She also gave me a treat, which pretty much made my week. Normally I hate Mondays- I start out with office work, have a hasty lunch, sit through four hours of lecture and then go in to the chaos that is a modality lab where I always do the work because I'm contraindicated to receive.
This last Monday though, my bosses were away, so I got a long morning to study, the first class was more clinically relevant and really held my attention, I got a treat and encouragement, the second class was canceled, so I got to study, and the lab wasn't half bad even though I still did all the work. It was a better learning experience for me to see where I was weak in the protocol. Then I got to go home and use my treat- seaweed and arnica bubble bath! It was so fantastic. For those of you who don't know the magic that is the herb arnica, it's used as a vasodialator and pain reliever to speed healing of bruises, sprains, strains, and all your other bumps and bruises. It's the western European version of tiger balm.
I sank beneath the juniper, lavender, lemon, and pine scented foam and reemerged a new being, less fatigued, less in pain, and in much better spirits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last weekend was the naturopathic philosophy retreat.
I gotta love any day that starts out with a morning song and a mandatory 1.5 hour barefoot nature walk. I found a broken building full of bats, and coyote tracks, and a bunny, and a wren's nest, and a friendly tree, and some stinging nettles, and a banana slug to cure the stings from the stinging nettles, a fun mud puddle, a stick, and a good hill for rolling down.
Never give up your childhood.
There's a lot of joy in just being outside if you don't have so much pressure on what you have to do whilst you're out there.
In addition, I learned about detoxing principles, fun ways to share the medicine with people who don't know what it is or believe in it, some good northwest herbs, and how to make flower essences.
I was also in two amazing massage chains, and had some great beer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now it's much later in the morning of the 7th Wednesday of spring term.
Time for more books.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
life is a choice.
The season is changing.
I am changing.
Who needs habits and forms anyway?
I really want to challenge myself to not allow fear of the unknown, of the different run my life.
It already runs most of the country.
I stand in a class divided, and I hope that the strings of love will bind us together.
We stand in a time of discontent and hate, and I hope that the strings of compassion will bind us together.
I stand a self confessed idealist, a thinker, a lover, a friend, a healer.
I may be a dreamer- but I'm not the only one.
The different isn't coming to morally destroy you. Only you can choose your path. Change can be healing. We are toxic. toxic on close-mindedness and denial, on habits, on hopelessness, on settling for what is easy instead of what we want, on the unwillingness to step out and be the first one.
But there's always a light beyond the first step. We can all walk towards love, towards learning, towards hope of a better tomorrow. We are always the first on our own path- no one else can live your life. You are the first. Your whole life is waiting for you to decide what you'll make of it.
Choose.
I am changing.
Who needs habits and forms anyway?
I really want to challenge myself to not allow fear of the unknown, of the different run my life.
It already runs most of the country.
I stand in a class divided, and I hope that the strings of love will bind us together.
We stand in a time of discontent and hate, and I hope that the strings of compassion will bind us together.
I stand a self confessed idealist, a thinker, a lover, a friend, a healer.
I may be a dreamer- but I'm not the only one.
The different isn't coming to morally destroy you. Only you can choose your path. Change can be healing. We are toxic. toxic on close-mindedness and denial, on habits, on hopelessness, on settling for what is easy instead of what we want, on the unwillingness to step out and be the first one.
But there's always a light beyond the first step. We can all walk towards love, towards learning, towards hope of a better tomorrow. We are always the first on our own path- no one else can live your life. You are the first. Your whole life is waiting for you to decide what you'll make of it.
Choose.
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