Science is Awesome!!!, Class #7, Period 3, February 15th
Today, the classroom had all of the chairs pushed off to one side, and instead, there were cushions and pillows on the floor. There were also some donuts, from JGOB, and some drinks, and oh, yes, several boxes of tissues.
"Okay," Rikku said. "We were gonna talk about medicine today, and I'm still gonna do that super-quick. Medicine is about healing people. You can find herbs that fix what's wrong with your body -- aspirin is just willow bark, you know? Or they make machines that do things for you, like a pacemaker, which is a little device that keeps your heart regular if it's not doing that so great on its own."
"But healing is about way more than just fixing a broken leg or a disease. There needs to be compassion and understanding, too. It's called bedside manner, in this language. And you know what?"
Rikku snagged a drink of her own before sitting down on one of the cushions. "This past weekend, a lot of you had guests. Some that made you want to tear your own hair out. Some that worried you, about the future. And some that you held close and realized you already loved. And I bet most of them broke your heart when they left, too. So compassion and understanding says that none of you care all that much about the diagnostic methods, today. So screw medicine."
Seriously.
"We're gonna sit here with tissues and you guys can talk about your kids, if you want to, or you can sit and cry, or just have some snacks, or if none of that sounds interesting, you can go. Okay?"
"Okay," Rikku said. "We were gonna talk about medicine today, and I'm still gonna do that super-quick. Medicine is about healing people. You can find herbs that fix what's wrong with your body -- aspirin is just willow bark, you know? Or they make machines that do things for you, like a pacemaker, which is a little device that keeps your heart regular if it's not doing that so great on its own."
"But healing is about way more than just fixing a broken leg or a disease. There needs to be compassion and understanding, too. It's called bedside manner, in this language. And you know what?"
Rikku snagged a drink of her own before sitting down on one of the cushions. "This past weekend, a lot of you had guests. Some that made you want to tear your own hair out. Some that worried you, about the future. And some that you held close and realized you already loved. And I bet most of them broke your heart when they left, too. So compassion and understanding says that none of you care all that much about the diagnostic methods, today. So screw medicine."
Seriously.
"We're gonna sit here with tissues and you guys can talk about your kids, if you want to, or you can sit and cry, or just have some snacks, or if none of that sounds interesting, you can go. Okay?"