The Many Faces of Water

The Many Faces of Water

Water has so many faces.
It is essential to life.
It cuts off the breath in an instant.
It makes things clean with a little soap of course.
It is the source of sickness.
It is the crashing thunderous surf.
It is the bubbling brook.
It is the cradle for colorful fish.
It is the living room for great big whales.
It comes in many shades of blue, green and grey.
It is soothing, especially in the tub.
It is raging as the flood surges.
It is a serene lake, a stagnant pond or a vast ocean.
It is steaming hot in the mug.
It is frigid cold in a glacier stream.
It is easy for some to get by twisting a tap.
It is hard for others who trudge along dusty paths.
It is a drip.
It is a stream.
It is a gush.
It is contained.
It is limitless.
It is refreshing.
It is oppressing.
It is water.
Always be grateful.

L.M. May 2009

(written for a course on "Spirituality in Nature" that gives suggestions for meditation activities every day for 40 days)

Swine Flu Madness

I have tried to avoid getting caught up in all the hype over the swine flu but find it touching home this week. It has not shown itself to be a disease where great numbers will die as of yet. What does not seem to be understood by most people is that far more people die every year of the influenza which is in the same family of viruses - yet few people get the flu vaccine every year. If there was a vaccine for swine flu, I can imagine people would line up in droves to receive it. In the emergency room where I work, protocols are out that anyone coming with a fever and cold symptoms must be put in an isolation room - kind of ridiculous when we only have 6 such rooms and 4 of them are used for obstetric patients and are occupied most of the time. But so far this has all been talk and fortunately we haven't had to live out the reality of an epidemic in this area.

Saturday I will be graduating with my Master's degree. If the threat of the swine flu epidemic had reached a level 6 (the highest), the ceremony would have been cancelled as this level does not allow public gatherings. After all the work I have done, it would be sad to have the celebration cancelled. My professor who graduated last week with her doctorate said that at her ceremony no handshaking was allowed when the diplomas were given out. The deans and students gave a thumbs up or another hand signal instead. There was discussion prior to the ceremony that someone would stand beside each side of the stage with hand sanitizer so that each student would have clean hands to shake the dean's hand and then have their hands cleansed after in case the dean's hands were contaminated by all the hands they shook. This was not done because they thought it would be too disruptive! Even the traditional pinning of the bacalureate nurses was different because it involves close contact of two people. I guess we will be informed on Saturday what will happen at our ceremony.

My first reaction is that is crazy. You can count the number of cases in MI on two hands. However after thinking of it a bit further, the reality does sink in. While the swine flu may not turn out to be anything, it does bring me to the reality of how our lives will change should there be a deadly outbreak of something else. We do not realize how fortunate we are that we have been spared this long.