Back to work

Ok, didn't post over the weekend. But it was back to work today, so back to blogging. For better or worse, not a lot to write about today. The woman I was following looked like she was on the verge of delivering all day...and finally started pushing just as I left for PBL. And there weren't enough C sections to go around. So I ended up doing a lot of reading today...hopefully that'll help me not embarrass myself tomorrow when I start doing clinic work with Dr. Jaja. We'll see how that goes, but having met and worked with him briefly last week, I think this might turn out ok. I'll be as detailed as possible in my description of how the days run to give anyone who might be interested in signing up for this alternative a feel for what happens on any given day.

I guess the one thing that did happen today was a PBL that spent a great deal of time discussing contraception and sterilization. It really sort of made me think...the way the facilitator approached the topic (and the way that medicine and, indeed, society in general approach the topic) was from a mindset of contraception being a fundamental right. The underlying corollary to this, of course, is that sex is also a fundamental right. Furthermore, there is an even deeper and more insidious understanding that we as human beings should be able to do whatever we want without consequences or responsibility. And by these flawed understandings, we have taken an act that stood at the pinnacle of human relationship as a total, reciprocal self-giving and turned it into a cheap tool of quick pleasure, a Saturday night "hook-up." It has been said by many theologians that sexual intercourse, the act of conjugal love, is the nearest we can come in this life to approximating the love of the Trinity. But by removing the consequences and the need for commitment, by removing the responsibility and gravity that once attended sex, the act itself has become meaningless and emotionless, having no particular value over and above any other means of showing affection or obtaining pleasure. The message today is that sex is fun, babies are inconvenient, and that the individual's enjoyment is the most important thing. Hakuna matata, right?

...but didn't Simba eventually realize he was wrong for leaving his responsibilities behind? Maybe, someday, we will too. Anyway, that's my sermonizing for the day. Back tomorrow with new and exciting stuff! Till then, peace and God bless!