Hello, all. I know that I have been really bad at writing blog posts because second semester of medical school was quite possibly the most intense thing I have ever done. With about a week and a half of vacation left, however, I should probably write this post that I've wanted to for a while....
Updates: I survived! My top three picks for where I maybe want to go in life are internal medicine, ER, and OB/GYN (much to my surprise!). Matt and I started going on dates in January against our school's advice not to date someone in your class, and I'm glad to say we've been together for several months now (and please don't jinx me, med school gods). Precepting went really well this summer.....and that's it for ya.
Today, I want to talk about something important. Conversation.
You might say, we have conversation every day with our friends, with random people, whatever. Of course we have conversation, Marguerite!
No. That's not the kind of conversation I'm talking about. Let me put it this way...I'm sure several of you hate how charged the political season gets and seeing it on facebook. Many of us take emotional defense to our beliefs, myself included in that statement....but, I genuinely believe that being so emotionally charged can have its downsides--especially on socially media--because it limits conversation. The way the political climate works nowadays is really about who can discredit who more until the time of the election, rather than actually having conversation and laying down ideas. I feel that fear of being discredited has slipped its way into our everyday lives to the point that so many of us don't have conversation with people who have opposite views than us...rather, instead, for our friends that may have opposing views, a lot of times we just elect to not talk about politics or religion or what have you (which, sometimes is necessary).
Here's how this harms us: we get so wrapped up in what WE think is right that we think that our view is the solution to everything and that everything the opposing side says is either wrong, insensitive, or would never work...particularly with more emotionally charged topics. Rather than having an in depth conversation with the person and showing respect for their views, we get behind keyboards and call each other stupid, horrifying names, and sometimes throw bible verses or YOU CAN'T JUDGE ME at each other.
The truth is, even two people on completely opposite sides of an issue have some common ground. Here, I'll give you an example.
For those of you who know me, you know that I'm very very pro choice. I have come to this conclusion after research, classes required to get my BS in biology, and of course the health care perspective. It is a fact that the number of abortion related deaths from things like septic abortion and other complications has dropped DRAMATICALLY since the legalization of abortion since Roe v. Wade, and as of now it is more dangerous to deliver a child than it is to have an abortion in the US. Personally, I cannot come to the conclusion that life begins at conception when things like the mid-blastula transition are known to exist. While several people on the pro-life side of things may disagree with me, I do view pregnancy is a health condition because IT IS a health condition: pre-ecclampsia, ecclampsia, gestational diabetes, GERD, etc. With that being said, it can also be a very special moment in a woman's life, but to force any woman to go through a full term pregnancy to me is a very immoral thing if that is not what she wants. PTSD is VERY real for several rape victims, for incest victims, and it of course would be wonderful if everyone could be "responsible" about sex but it doesn't always happen that way...not when 20% of women are sexually assaulted, nor when people have access to health care. Adoption is always an option, yes, but the foster system sucks and sometimes, situations in life can just suck. When life sucks, sometimes you gotta make tough decisions. This isn't a black and white issue. Embryos die all the time in other species (crude view, I know), and I see no reason to force a woman to continue a pregnancy until term.
With all of this being said, however, had it not been for my pro-life friends at Roanoke I would have missed out on a lot of things other than assuming that many people on the opposite side than I thought that I was a blood-thirsty baby killer. While yes, of course, debates were still heated with emotion at times, I learned a lot about what the pro-life side really stands for. My friends sought to improve life for women, too. They seek to preserve the potential of life (which, while I do not agree with this, I certainly respect it). Several of them hate the way women feel like they have to choose a career or a child. I can certainly agree with that, why the hell don't we have better maternity leave? Why does my career have to be centered around family planning? Why can't women be treated as equals without having to worry about pregnancy, and why is a woman getting pregnant so detrimental in the eyes of several jobs? So, as much as people can call pro-lifers anti-woman, most of them are quite the opposite of that. We also agreed on the fact that women shouldn't feel like they HAVE to have an abortion, that counseling about all of the options before making such an important decision is a good thing. Society shouldn't shame women who get abortions, but they also shouldn't shame women who keep a chid out of wedlock.
The most important thing we had in common, though? Reducing the number of abortions. Yes, as a pro-choicer, I too want to reduce the number of abortions because as a future health care provider, it helps my patients avoid unnecessary risks of surgical procedures or drugs. For them, it helps preserve life.
I could go into a rant about birth control and it's importance, but that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is that because we TALKED, because we had conversation, we learned more about each viewpoint and each other. We broke down stereotypes, and because we had conversation we can see that we aren't quite so different even though we definitely appear to have fundamental differences. Most importantly, while we may not agree on everything, we respect each other.
Now, imagine if congress and our world leaders actually talked and SHARED ideas....we could generate new ideas, we could compromise, and we could actually work together to generate real solutions.
The worst viewpoint is that of a single lens. Each perspective sheds light on a new thing that may have not been visible before. The more lenses you add, the more complete of a picture that you are able to see.
