Assisting in cultural competency

So my wife sent me this email and I figured this is a funny little look at how culture can impact a basic intake assessment (of a sort):

By: Robert Armstrong, M.D.

I work part-time as a teacher of family doctors. The program provides training on psychiatric disorders and emphasizes the importance of emotional support.

The new doctors are given plenty of time in clinic to visit with their patients and learn about their challenges.

One of our interns who has never lived in Utah and knew nothing about Mormons is still struggling to understand the cultural climate here. Last week he was interviewing a new patient and stumbled on what he thought was a raging psychosis.

Doctor: "Well, Mrs. Olsen, we've talked about your high blood pressure and your medications. Are you experiencing any particular stress in your life?"

Patient: "Oh, yes! It's the Sunbeams. They're driving me crazy."

Doctor: (very surprised) "The Sunbeams?"

Patient: "Yes, I've never had trouble with them before, but this group won't sit still. They bounce all over the room, and run out the door and up and down the hallway.

Doctor: (reaching for a pen) "Have you told anyone about this?

Patient: "Of course, I told the president."

Doctor: "Really! And, what did the president tell you?"

Patient: "She said Sunbeams are like that. I'm just going to have to learn to deal with them."

Doctor: (concerned that he may be missing something) "I know people who are sensitive to sunbeams. Do they cause you a rash or anything?"

Patient: (confused) "A rash? No."

Doctor: "What's the biggest problem they're creating?"

Patient: "It's the noise. They just won't quit talking."

Doctor: (astonished) "The sunbeams are talking to you?"

Patient: "Well, yes. But mostly they talk to each other."

Doctor: (scribbling furiously in the chart) "I see. Can anyone else hear them talking?"

Patient: (after a moment of stunned silence) "You're not LDS, are you?"

Enjoy!

The great conspiracy

I don't know how to say this. I may be on to something big. Very big. Okay, who am I kidding, it's probably not some big huge secret, but in my mind it is testament to the power of well-placed lobbying interests. It involves lima beans. I mean honestly, who in their right minds actually like lima beans? Any sane observer of the basic tenets of supply and demand would know that lima beans should not be as distributed as they are. Now, why may I ask you is this the case? It's a conspiracy of course. Now the whole extent of the conspiracy may not be fully known. Maybe I can get some government stimulus money to help explore this more fully. The only reason that I can think of why lima beans are in so many otherwise perfectly delicious vegetable dishes, is that Big Lima has infiltrated the entire societal structure and has been planting lima beans in some no doubt top-secret government or military sponsored testing project. My own personal theory is that it has to do mind control. Actually, it is worse than feared. http://www.foodreference.com/html/flimabeans.html I mean it's bad enough that they are nasty, ugly, flavorless pulse. Now they are slowly trying to poison us. Lima beans anyone?

Word of the Day - Maleficence

I am posting a couple of definitions for comparative purposes. The first is from the 1828 Websters dictionary courtesy of http://1828.mshaffer.com/.

Maleficience:

MALEFI'CIENCE, n. [L. maleficientia.]

The doing of evil, harm or mischief.

and from the current Merriam-Webster's Online version:

Main Entry:

ma·lef·i·cence

Pronunciation:

\mə-ˈle-fə-sən(t)s\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Italian maleficenza, from Latin maleficentia, from maleficus

Date:

1598

1 a: the act of committing harm or evil
b: a harmful or evil act
2: the quality or state of being maleficent

You will note the difference in spelling from 1828 to present.
And now for the application of today's word: The Democrat's, led by Nancy Pelosi, have engaged in gross maleficence with their stimulus package plans in their pursuit of permanent power.
Now that is truly maleficent...