The outsider

The outsider knows what he wants to do.
He wants to be a thinker, writer, teacher,
To do things that make sense,
What needs to be done,
What's proven to work.

He wants to work with people
Because he loves people,
He loves to listen to their stories,
And to teach the right way,
Based on scientific fact.

He loves the people aspect of his job,
Yet he's not allowed to think,
And not allowed to speak the truth,
Without becoming an outcast,
And without fear of losing his job.

He entered the paradigm with a fresh eye,
An ability to see what is and is not,
And he created a new paradigm,
That will make more sense for his job.
He is the paradigm shifter.

He knows how Copernicus felt,
When he proved the earth wasn't flat
And he had to keep it a secret
The last 30 years of his life
For fear that he'd be beheaded.

He feels like a pawn.
They place him where they want
And expect him to do his job
The way it's always been done
Even if what he does doesn't matter.

It's called a paradigm paralysis,
The greatest obstacle to progress.
The inability to see the truth
Or the refusal to see the truth,
Is the greatest obstacle of all.

It's a paradigm paralysis,
Not seeing beyond the current thought process.
It's not seeing out of the box.
It's being stuck in a pattern,
And not seeing a better way.

While your mind is shut, his is open.
He sees the foolishness of your ways.
He sees the observer of reality,
Watching you do that and do this,
Just as they've done for years.

"Why do you do it that way?" he asks
"That's how we've always done it," you say.
"Do you ever ask why?" he asks.
"Do you ever think to ask,
"Why do I need a bronchodilator?"

You'd think people would want the truth.
Yet for 2,000 years doctors studied Galen
And they did even after the truth got out,
That Galen never dissected a human corpse.
Instead he dissected an ape.

Galen described an eight segment sternum.
And even while the Galen passage was read,
While the chest was being dissected,
And a three segment sternum was revealed,
Nary a person thought to say, "Galen was wrong!"

Andreas Vesalius did say Galen was wrong,
And he proved Galen was wrong,
Yet he was called a liar and a quack.
"What Galen says is true!" his peers hailed.
They were stuck in paradigm paralysis

A paradigm is a set of assumptions
That helps us make sense of things,
Yet when something occurs that
Falls outside the pattern
It's called a paradigm effect.

A paradigm effect can be strong
As Copernicus and Galileo proved.
People refused to see the truth
Even when it was right under their noses.
They were trapped in paradigm paralysis.

That's why there's no cure for asthma,
Because all dyspnea is treated as asthma.
Hippocrates defined dyspnea as asthma.
And so we still treat all dyspnea as asthma,
Even though the evidence shows it's not.

Bronchodilators are bronchodilators,
Yet they are used to treat cardiac asthma,
And pneumonia, and collapsed lungs,
Lung cancer, kidney failure, croup,
And rickets along with bronchospasm.

It's called wasted medicine for no reason.
He's a respiratory therapist for 12 hours
And he sees bronchodilator abuse first hand,
He knows it has no effect on the patient,
And so does the patient.

Yet few patients question the procedure,
Because doctors have earned their trust,
And so few think to question,
Anything a doctor orders.
They just want to get better.

In fact, even most doctors know the truth,
Yet they have no choice but to order them,
Because that's how it's been done forever.
And doing it any other way would make sense,
Yet it wouldn't make sense to them.

Even if a doctor knows the truth he can't speak it,
Because he'd be an outcast among his peers,
He'd be castigated by the doctor clique,
And reminded that the truth doesn't matter,
Because bronchodilators are thought to cure everything.

The COPD patient was on 100% oxygen
For eight hours in the Emergency Room,
And the patient did not stop breathing.
Yet later he was ordered on 28% oxygen
Because of the hypoxic drive myth.

He watched as the patient's dyspnea worsened,
As his skin turned from pink to blue.
He called the doctor who refused more oxygen.
The patient suffered as a result,
Of the paradigm paralysis.

Yet even if the doctor knew the truth,
He'd have to accept the myth as truth,
Because the clique accepts the myth,
And the courts accept the myth,
And, hence, the myth becomes the truth.

He knows it and you may know it too,
Yet what is he, what are you to do?
You know about paradigm paralysis.
You know it from your observation.
You know it by scientific fact.

He doesn't' want to be the first to speak,
And neither do any of his peers.
So he keeps his mouth shut,
And you keep your mouth shut,
And nothing ever changes.

He knows we could probably cure asthma
Because the wisdom exists right here.
Yet it's just beyond our scope of understanding.
It exists just outside the box,
Just outside the paradigm.

Paradigm paralysis prohibits people
From seeing valuable information,
even what's right before our eyes.
Yet he sees it, and he remains silent,
Just like Copernicus did.

So progress is slow, even STALLED!
Morale among the workers is low,
And resources are wasted,
Money is wasted,
Time wasted.

He is a pawn riding on the wrong path,
Yet it's not wrong to anyone else,
Because they don't see path B.
All they see is the same pattern, path A,
The same rut we've been stuck in forever.

He knows what he wants to do.
He wants to be a thinker, writer, teacher,
To do things that make sense,
What needs to be done,
What's proven to work

He feels like a pawn.
They place him wherever they want
And make him do what they want him to do.
He knows what he wants to do:
He wants a paradigm shift.

Actually, he discovered a new paradigm,
and he's therefore the outsider.
He doesn't understand the current paradigm,
Yet he does understand the new one .
He's an outcast if he says what he knows.

He's the fresh eye and the hope
For everyone who wants to fix the system.
Yet he needs courage to speak up.
And he knows what to do:
He must make waves,

Yet he knows that's not going to happen,
Because he's got four young mouths to feed.
So he's going to have to suck it up,
And keep his mouth shut tight,
Doing what he loves to do.

He loves reading, observing and listening to new ideas.
He loves to question the things he's ordered to do.
He loves to draw a line from point A to point B,
And ask, "Why can't we do it this way?
He's the outsider.

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Common sense

Some people are task orientated.

Some people are people orientated.

Some people are common sense orientated.

What more needs to be said.

Common sense is best.

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Winning loto ticket

"Is there anything I can get for you?"
I asked the patient before I left the room.

"A winning lotto ticket." He said.

To that I humbly responded, "If I had one of those I'd keep it for myself. No offense."

"None taken."

I wish I was stupid

I wish I was stupid.
I wish I didn't have a lick for brains.
I wish I didn't know poop from the donkey's butt.

Life would be so much easier that way -- you'd think.
Well, I wouldn't think,
Therefore I wouldn't care.

If I didn't care, I wouldn't worry
I could just live MY life
without a care in the world.

What goes on in Washington?
WHO CARES!
I wouldn't even know about Washington.
I wouldn't care what effect it had on me.

What goes on in Lansing?
WHO CARES!
I wouldn't even know about Lansing.
I wouldn't care what effect it had on me.

Have an emotional pain?
WHO CARES!
Someone else will take care of it?
Someone who's wiser.

What's the cost?
WHO CARES!
Let someone else worry about that,
Someone who's a sucker.

Ben Franklin said something like:
"I would rather be the dumbest lot on earth
Than the wisest with no one to share my wisdom with."

What a wise man Franklin was,
He's my favorite man in history.
I'm not half as wise as he was.

Although I AM a thinker.
I think I think pretty well,
Which, by default, makes me wiser?

Sometimes I wonder if it would be better
To be the dumbest lot on earth,
And not have a care in the world.

Though upon reading the news
I see non-thinkers running states
and poverty creeping up

Upon viewing the news
I see non-thinkers making laws
and pockets no longer jingle

Thus, reality sets in
and the thinker thinks:
stupidity breeds stupidity

---

Word of the day:Incongruous: Not in harmony, out of agreement or accord; out of keeping or place; inappropriate; unbecoming

Sorry for the incongruous poem.

---

Perfection in itself is a flaw

You do everything right
Your ego out of sight.
You make others feel small
As you seem to know all.

You are flawless you say
"Cool man," in every way.
You are only the best
Ahead of all the rest

Until you're not around
You should hear all the sound
Of what we think of you
It might make you feel blue

Yet you are perfect, you say
"Cool man," in every way.
Now the truth you will see
But change you will not be.

In you that's what I saw
Perfection is a flaw
And I see through your fraud
Yet, since I am not flawed:

I cannot be perfect

Be careful seeking advice

One must be careful when seeking advice
Not to seek it from the one who is bored
Or someone who's had the job a while,
And is burned out.

That was a mistake I made twice.

I really wanted to be a teacher.
I asked the teacher:
Would this make a good career?"
"No!" he grumbled. "The pay is poor."

I decided to be a counselor.
I asked the counselor:
"Would this make a good career?"
He said, "No! The pay is poor."

So I went to journalism school,
I learned great writing skills,
I learned I loved to write,
but I hated being a snoop.

So I quit and went to RT school.
I think fate drove me this way,
but I'd have made a good teacher,
and a good counselor too.

The moral: It is good to heed the advice of experts, and follow one's own heart.

They tried to give my baby vaccine Hep B

They tried to give my baby vaccine hep b
I think they are crazy you see.
All we wanted was to delay it
Until she had a risk, I admit.

They tried to give my baby vaccine Hep B
I think they are crazy you see.
It's spread by blood
Not spread by mud
It's spread by sex
Not a mama's neck

Tatoos and piercings of the body
All of which I think are shoddy
is how you catch it
Not while sleeping
Not while wheeping
while mama does knit.

Then sis goes "Peep, peep, peep, peep."
To help baby go to sleep.
No Hep be in the air
No Hep be anywhere.
Why does doctor keep trying,
While my baby's not crying,
to give my baby vaccine hep b?
I think it's frickin stupid, you see.

While outside it does snow,
My baby is one month old, so...
I certainly hope she doesn't do
sex, drugs, rings or a tattoo

They tried to give my baby vaccine hep b
I think they are frickin' crazy you see.

The one I will not name

It was the middle of the night
Patients all tucked in tight.
All our work was done
It was time for some fun.

Dig into the pot luck to feed,
Or grab a good book to read;
Play a card game if you will.
The boss will flip the bill.

Weary eyed were all staff,
Makes for funny chaff,
While we eat our snacks,
feet up on the racks.

Then the morning hours come
Lots of work, we better run.
A treatment here, another there
I am wanted everywhere.

Keep on moving -- huff huff.
Patient's laboring -- puff puff .
From my pocket I pull my elixir ,
As I work to try to fix her.

Amid a whir and a white mist
Not one treatment did I miss
From room to room I run
Complaints there were none.

Until end of shift report time came .
In came someone I will not name.
She had a gloomy disposition
Everything was an imposition

My good mood so suddenly sinks,
as I watch her sullen blinks.
I try not to let her get to me,
But that's hard to do, you see.

The boss, oh, she was out to get her
Nothing but an ornery cur.
Twisted into back of Amy the knife
'Cause Amy was out to ruin her life.

Enter Amy, and grouchy smiles
Gossip stretches out for miles.
She turns to me and says "I'm so tired."
I think, "She slept, she should be wired."

I then go home and sleep a lot.
I say good-bye and kiss my tot.
Through the sleet and sludge
It's off to work I trudge.

There sat grouchy, face all taut
With the negativity she wrought.
She said, "Oh, I was so, so busy."
These complaints made me dizzy.

She said, while her eyelids twitch,
"I hate Amy, she is a bitch.
She wants us to be faultless.
It makes me feel so worthless.

"Mike, he's just a dummy,
He's the bosses chummy.
He never gets in trouble
Like he lives in a bubble

"He's a hard worker," I think
I could go for a drink.
She's a very sullen person.
Judge and make it worsen.

She said, "This whole day was really bad,
It was busy, and it made me so, so sad."
She was in a silly tizzy,
And said, "You will be busy."

I said, "Oh, don't worry, I'll be fine,
Then I had to listen to her wine.
"You will have a crappy night."
I was so, so tired of her mite.

Yet I kept my mouth shut tight
Unlike her, I hated a fight.
I listened. No words did I say.
I only work with her one day.

She took my silence as a clue,
"The grumpy one is you."
NO! It's not me it's you fool!
You're the grapevine spool!

Yet that I did not say.
Kept my cool anyway.
Gloom was a heavy weight.
But I did not take the bate.

With a frown and a yawn,
She's all of a sudden gone.
The tension lifts from the room
And with it all the gloom.

They say one should not judge,
Lest we ourselves be judged
From the one I will not name
We learn it's dumb to complain

Because those who complain,
The one I will not name,
Say more about themselves
than those complained about.

God, grant me the sand

In the dead of the night
I saw this man's plight.
Now he must fight,
fight hard for his life.

I hold his life in my hand.
God, grant me the sand.

(Written with Jane Sage)

A stubborn man with chest pain

It was quiet as I sat there
enjoying the night.
When a lady, I swear
told me her plight.

"I tried hard as could be
but he's stubborn you see.
He said, ERs are no fun
So don't call 911."

Then as I sat all alone
I heard a clang on the phone.
I heard him pout.
I heard her shout.

She hung up the phone .
A hum and a drone
From the scanner beside me,
"Man down," was the plea.

Soon I heard a loud yelp,
A plea for my help.
I jumped off my chair
and a lady was there.

She said, "Help my old man."
I said, "I'll do the best I can."
She gave me a pathetic stare
And I pulled up a chair.

I said, "Sit here and rest
While we do our best.
I rushed to the victim
And gave a clear dictum.

The order was late, I knew
As I could see he was blue
I thought of his wife's pain
As I sought out a vein.

Now beside me she stood.
I worked hard as I could
and injected the drug
then gave her a hug.

As the doctor I called it,
And his wife through a fit.
So the man got here to late
And now must accept fate.

If you ever wonder why
a modest man does die
Heed this advice I say:
"Come in any way.

"Because dead people are never stubborn."

She is a stubborn COPDer

She has COPD
I do ABGs
She thinks 1-2-3
as she exhales long through pursed lips

I shared all my lore
with her before
that smoking is bad
It makes lungs sad.

As her eyes glistened
She sat and listened
"This is no joke.
I will not smoke."

But she did smoke
Now I must poke
So I gather my stuff
Wondering, does she regret her puff

Now she has no air
She shouts, "Not fair!"
"What can I do," I like to say,
"You do not listen anyway."

So she did not listen.
Now my eyes glisten
As I get ready to poke.
I say, "This is no joke.

"The reason you are choking
Is because you are smoking.
If you do not stop you will die
And that is not a lie."

So all frogged up here she sits
"I'm a dummy," she admits
"I'll fix you up," I say
"But smoke no more, or you'll pay."

So now I set to fix her
With my magic lung elixir
And she struggled for air,
saying, "This is not fair."

A whir and a white mist
As I tug on her wrist
As she works to inhale
I set to impale

She has COPD
I do ABGs
So you do not care for yourself,
now I seek sweet revenge as the needle seeps through your skin.

She gasped, "It will not be fun.
But I smoked my last one.
I listen, but think:
"Yeah right."

I do not like working five days in a row

I do not like working five days in a row
It causes agony and woe.
It makes me feel like shirking.
It makes me not like working.

The first day is fine, the second goes by,
Third and fourth I handle with a sigh.
The fifth my body feels like mush,
I cannot, will not, ever rush

I do not like working five days in a row
I do not like it, did you not know
"So, will you work one more day?"
Oh, pooh. I said yes any way.

Look, boss. It's stress on the brain.
Do you not have empathy?
It makes me feel insane.
All those hours are bane.

I do not like it for money.
I do not like it with honey.
I do not think it's even funny.
Not worth any of your money.

I do not like it with a nurse,
Lips drawn up like a curse.
What could make me feel worse
Than working near a hearse.

I do not like it with a doctor.
I do not like it with your proctor.
I do not like it with bosses.
I'd just as soon cut my losses.

I tire of old sick fools
with eyes like lipid pools
sitting in piles of stool
Lips laced with slimy drool.

"Give me this, give me that."
Like a little kid brat.
I like him, I really do
I just feel like a loo.

My feet feel so old.
My brain turned to mold.
My eyes, oh they water.
My legs teeter totter.

My beeper goes off.
The boss she does scoff:
"Do that and do this."
I feign happy bliss

And now a new order.
Oh, such disorder.
I have to get busy.
My head feels so dizzy.

Then to my dismay
The sick does convey
She has a need for me.
"I can't breathe," says she.

I have exactly what she needs
And I do the good deeds
And I smile while I fix her
With my magic lung elixir

Pride and joy, oh yeah sure.
As I give the misty cure
She inhales deep, as such,
"Thank you very much."

Still my feet are weepy
My eyes are still sleepy
Yet now I feel great mirth
To see what I am worth

Then I pass the higher ranks
With a smile they say, "Thanks. "
With a click I punch out
So glad I did not pout.

I do not like working five days in a row
It's hard work, that I know
Though I'm so, so, so tired.
I also feel inspired.

So I waddle and trudge
through snow and sludge,
Kiss my wife and kids,
Then close my weary lids.

He won't wear a seatbelt

By Jane Sage

Oh such a blizzard
It chills my gizzard

Bless me mama
Bringing in trauma

With heart a flutter
My knees like butter,
I entered a scene
of chaos so utter.

I stepped to the gurney
& oh what a journey
This man left his face
in outer space...

I wonder what he felt like not wearing his seat belt