Face Off
Every Picture Tells A Story, Don’t It?
“Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told ‘I’m with you kid. Let’s go.’”— Maya Angelou
I had an interesting week as time for employee annual evaluations rolled around in the nation’s largest hospital.
During a conversation with the manager of our department, I imagined the scene of our dialogue, as a third party might see it. Two individuals, about 15–20 years age difference, from different cultures, and with different ambitions and worldviews, are sitting next to 3 computer terminals doing something required in an attempt to help humans live better lives by administering health care to them.
That’s all fine. That’s what I do, at least 56 hours a week. It takes more than one full-time job in modern day America to cover student loan payments and costs of living.
But the interesting thing about this conversation was something altogether different.
My manager had wonderful things to say about me, and where work was concerned, couldn’t have been more complimentary, regarding my technical skills, personal work relationships, and productivity.
That, however, was not enough.
Even though the dialogue was very civil and professional, I witnessed how diametrically opposed our two worldviews were, and I watched as another human being drew conclusions from my own stated philosophies and actions — conclusions that I see as being at the heart of many of our current environmental crises.
As I’ve stated on so many occasions, I’m a healthcare professional most of the time. On weekends, I shoot wildlife photography and attempt to share photos to inspire and educate the public to promote appreciation and conservation of wildlife and our natural resources. If you are interested in my journey from surgeon to wildlife photographer, I’ve written about it here:
I listened as my manager, someone who has dual degrees in our field (PhD/MD), discussed all the things he “had to give up” in order to achieve his career ambitions. He had given up photography, painting, and a laundry list of very personal endeavors. He said that he just didn’t have time for all of it and understood that career was “number one.”
Let’s recap that exchange and examine it.
What he said is “Career is number one.”
What I heard and see for him is that career is everything.
He talked long and hard about career goals, sacrifices, and more, more, more…
I can’t say that I’m sad for him. I can’t say that I have any judgment or opinion regarding his obvious values.
What I can readily say, and did, is that I do not share them.
To be even more specific, he praised my expansive “compassion for humanity and all animals.” He noted how well it worked for patients because of the quality of my work and the manner in which medical ethics takes a front seat with regards to decision making — when I’m involved.
And with all of that, the face off still occurred.
In his opinion, all of these qualities that made me a better clinical scientist, were things that I should “give up.”
My little friend the burrowing owl, I think best demonstrates the internal response I had to the statement:
“Just leave the environmentalism for someone else…in molecular lab, we don’t have time for such things…”
Oh my, oh dear. “People still actually say these things out loud and live their lives that way…” my brain nearly choked itself thinking.
On my two days a week off, this fella was thinking I should be doing things to further “my career.”
Of course people hear this and say “That’s none of his damn business what you do on the weekends!”
Yeah, yeah. I know. But that’s not the most disturbing thing. To his credit, what he is trying to say is that if I would dedicate everything to my career, I could get even more initials and publish papers and help humanity even more in the field of molecular diagnostics.
He’s right.
On that point.
I could do more in molecular diagnostics if I don’t want several other things that I want.
And he is sort of unaware that I’ve already been there, done that, and judged it not nearly as important as what I do now.
What a difference in worldviews.
My “career” as I explained to him, is to be “the best human being that I can be.” It isn’t about titles and degrees. I’d decided to stop that line of pursuit in my 20s.
My “career” is to help spread ideas. It is to help other people discover their best selves and to live in harmony with all of life and our great Earth Mother. Sure, I specifically help individual patients the vast majority of my time. I’m actually only able to do that because of what I do outside of work — the time spent in nature, with animals, promoting their welfare and attempting to get humans to find ways to live without expensing other beings so heavily.
The image of him and me sitting across the desk, facing each other, with these vast differences of opinion on how to live, really drove the point home again for me.
So many people go about their lives, pursuing what they feel is best, their personal ambitions, perhaps not feeling they can impact the environment or that “someone else” will take care of the issue.
What I told them was this:
“What I do in healthcare for specific, individual patients, in an attempt to save their lives or improve the quality of it, means absolutely nothing if we do not have a healthy environment for those patients and their offspring to live in.”
Remember Professor Guy McPherson and his famous quote?
If you think the economy is more important than the environment, try holding your breath while counting your money.
Certainly personal healthcare is the same. What good is extending a lifespan only to suffer what we are bringing on ourselves with our mistreatment of the environment?
By the end of our conversation, his mind seemed to sufficiently be blown with my refusal to accept his conventional viewpoint regarding “career ambition” and the map we are all supposed to try and follow to the top.
Let me tell you what the TOP is for me.
The top is a creature that is intelligent enough to live in harmony and health within the great web of life, and to ensure the survival of its species by making choices that impact the whole positively and towards this end.
The top, for me, is not necessarily a six or seven figure income, titles, and more than I actually need. The creature on the top doesn’t waste and abuse. And the creature on the top needs others, and understands that he/she needs others, as individuality with regard to survival is really a delusion.
For some reason, the game of life, to me, is of a different character and this charade we’ve been doing at the expense of the natural world, is not seducing me to think otherwise.
We need more people to help spread the idea that if we only strive for human progress, then our mission is doomed from the get go. It is not a plan that can possibly be successful in the long-term. While I know there are people who are self-serving and always will be, I really do believe there are many people who aren’t aware of all that they can do to help our situation. And they are not educated on why they must make changes if they care about the future of their offspring.
So I will continue my wildlife and conservation photography journey, and I hope that you will join me and help spread and nurture a love of the natural world, and find ways to do this thing we call “living” better.
