Let's put first priorities first.

I don’t always like the ways we humans treat each other. I guess that’s my main gripe. When you hear me complain in this blog, that’s what it's all about. We could treat each other better. In so many, many ways. We do keep getting better at it. But, oh, progress is so slow. Look how long it took to free the slaves. And how long it took to give women some semblance of equal rights. We still have a long way to go. Sad thing is, some of us don’t recognize it. We’d rather rest on our laurels. Because we’ve elected a black president, we think we’ve solved the matter of racism. We constantly fool ourselves. In little ways. In big ways, too. For instance, I’m in constant dispute with some Alzheimer care-givers. The ones that always feel sorry for themselves. Focused too much on themselves. Rather than on their patients. They allow themselves to become frazzled and despondent and overworked and exhausted and belligerent and angry. And in the process they take it out on their patients. In negative ways. I keep pointing out that they do harm. To themselves. To their patients. Some of the situations are pretty bad. But hostile care-givers argue that I should be more compassionate and understanding. Toward them, the care-givers. And maybe I should. But in turn, I tell them they should be more compassionate and understanding. Toward their patients. Of course, they really get pissed when I tell them maybe they should consider doing something other than care-giving. Everybody would be better off if they left the job to others more suited for the difficult assignment. That would be no shame, I point out. It would be the right thing to do. But they take umbrage. They insist they are dedicated. Just overworked. And that their intentions are good. Which I don't deny. But to me, that’s not quite good enough. Their patients deserve better. And I want to come across as an advocate for the patient. In a sense, I want to put the interest of the patient ahead of the care-giver. That’s all I’m saying. If we were talking about crime, I’d tend to put the victim ahead of the perpetrator. I’d want to deal with both fairly. But let’s put first priorities first. –Jim Broede