Passengers in life

So today was awesome it was day one of my fellowship - like officially so far I have been doing orientation - like another serious thorough thing that lasted a week so today we finaly hit the floor with the other fellow...His name is Jason.He from Mexico....very cool dude has so many stroies we have lunch together and he is a good laugh.So anyhu yesterday there was a lady - brilliant is the word that comes to my mind when I think about Vanessa.She gave us a a mini presentation - actually it was more than a presentation it was so interactive she set us up in groups of ten and had us give our "villages" as she called them a name.So in twenty minutes we were to get to know each other by answering five questions - I hope I can remember them.Who are you?What drives you?Why this proffesion?Who / what made you be where you are today?who do you want to be remembered as?wow I think these questions can sum up ones life in a page...So anyhu she gave us a phrase that went something like "We are all passengers on a bus / commuter rail on this journey called life and the moment we see someone as though they are on another journey is when we have failed." I think she meant the moment we start seeign people different or treating people coz they dont look or talk the way we do or act the same is when problems arise such as innjustice , mistreatmeant, discrimination - on all facets - colour religion, disability etc....So where was I going with this...oh to relate it to this ...yesterday I find out someone I know is gay...at first I was taken aback but we delged into it - I of course asking silly questions "So how did you know? Is it something you have always had or it came recently??So we talked about it and at the end I honestly said to the person I do not see them any different than I did last week - and am so honest about that.I think we need to scratch the surface a bit more and find out whats really beneath the skin...behind the layers of colour and disabilty we need to realize that we are all in this journey together - with one final destination.Think about it this way - we are ten people all going to New York on a Greyhound in a mini van that only fits five...There are those who will make the best out of the journey and get to know the person next to them and even start singing songs to make the trip faster.Then there are the other five who will complainf and grunt the whole day and give each other uncormfortable stares coz they do not know who the other people are and care less who they are...So Vanessa was giving us the caring credential of MGH as a hospital how it strives to give patient quality care that stretches beyond just the surface...One of my interview questions I remember was Why nursing as a proffesion.And Isaid I like being able to see beyond a persons current situation - beyond the IV poles , beyond the catheters beyond the bandaids.I want to know what was going on in your life before this happened.how many children you have the countries you have been to and the experiences you have faced in life.And I know nursing is the only profession that allows me to do that and see beyond their condition...Oh so am drifting...I always do when i have so much to say....Case in point today my patients were two older gentlemen both very wealthy- sit on scholarship commitees, have travelled the world over, both their rooms had a beautiful view of the Charles River and all the boats and trust me they were paying for the view.. but at the end of the day they were at their crumbling point it doesnt matter who you are where you are from or what you have done you are as vulnerable as the poor sick man at the clinic down the road.So it should be like that all the time in all aspects of life not only when we are most vulnerable is when people or things we never used to even give a second thought start to matter....like Vanessa said we are all passengers on this same journey called life...Meanwhile the celtics are playing tommorrow a FINAL and not just any final the NBA finals - a years work of practice is going down tommorrow,I really hope they win they have worked so hard to prove the pundits and nay sayers wrong.ok its ten thirty am up at five a.m lol Penny getting up over the summer at a whole 5 am kweli the economy is tough lolest!!!!kwa dirisha baby.....


There can be a lot of activity with no productivity... -someones face book status

Five doors knocked = 1 open

So today I check my mailbox and find a letter for a scholarship that I had applied for a while back I had even almost forgotten about it.Sadly it was a "This year we had so many firece applications essays and unfortunately your was not one of the selected." Yeah I was dashed but only for like five minutes but dusted myself off.Reason being I had just come from day two of my oreintation for the Fellowship at Mass Gen - it was awesome - an informal meet and greet with the two amazing mentors who host the fellowship - Deb Washington and Bernice Avila - I love them already they are like my Mass Gen mothers and mentors at the same time.So anyhu as much as I did not get the Cherokee scholarship it was worth a try and thats what life is all about.You have to knock on five doors so that at leats one may open.Had I chosen to just apply to that and not try other arenas I would be so dissapointed but now I am so tied with my other endevaours.And I think thats a major reason y we give up so fast on so many things we just try one place and when we get turned down we stop trying altogether.One thing I know am not afraid of is rejection.The fear of failure of getting turned down - its shows at least I am trying making moves - a term I like to call "shifting the furniture." So start shifting the furniture around in your "house" (life) move things around knock on doors when there is no response try pry open the window there are so many ways to get into a house who said you have to use the door.Hey, Santa uses the chimney pull all the stops until you get in.