may 28, 2009: love
today, i was working with a patient who is developmentally disabled. she is 47 and has an iq of about 77. she had a cut on her foot and wanted a new bandage on it before we began testing. so, we left the door open to her room so the nurse could come in and then she said to me: “you know, people walk by my room and i smile and nobody ever smiles back. there is so little love in this world and so much hate.” truer words were never spoken and i think we can all learn a big lesson here. this woman gone through her life with the stigma of a developmental delay where i am sure she has experienced alot of negativity and cruelty. yet, she seem oblivious to this and notices only that people do not smile back at her from her hospital bed. lesson learned: a smile can go further than you think.
