System failure

Greetings beloved peoples!

Oh my goodness, don't even get me started on system problems today. This morning started off with  the saddest story ever about a woman who came in for an appointment stuffing pills in her mouth stating "I don't want this baby. I do not want to be homeless in the winter with a baby" She had to be restrained in order to keep her from continuing to take whatever it was she was putting in her mouth.  When told she could put the baby in foster care eventually, she said she wouldn't put a child in the f****** foster care system since she was raped there as a child. Her history was one of homelessness, rape, mental health issues, and frequent visits to the ER. She reported finding a guy who would let her stay at his place... and when safety was inquired about (with recent news of a pregnant woman who was murdered through craigslist.) she retorted "You think I care about my life?" Point taken. The storyteller concluded, "There's no one to be her appointed guardian to take care of her until she delivers. She's homeless without an address and getting lost through the cracks. Such are the shortcomings of our system"

My throat got all swollen and I felt the hot liquid burning in my ducts. How can we allow this? How can anyone who cares about life not want to do something for this situation?

Meanwhile, I'm blithely reading about anorexia and bulimia in my textbook... and best care for pediatrics in general. I'm thinking of all the children who aren't getting best care because their parents are fried to the max, poverty stricken, homeless, etc. There are so many things which contribute to health... that children are not getting: healthy food, exercise, social support, sleep, attention, limited screen time. I'm envisioning all the people I know in my life who have been bullied, verbally abused, sexually assaulted by parents, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends. What is wrong with people?

I am so tired of people who don't invest in relationships, who don't care about the people around them, or who even exploit the people around them.

And I feel so inadequate to approach any of this. I know it's not all on my shoulders. It's just that education is utterly overwhelming. There are a million different ways to contribute, to make differences in legislature, to promote new ways of thinking and addressing problems, to love better. I want to do all of them. I want to be a school nurse, a counselor, a pediatrician, an eating disorder specialist, a leader in changing policies, a free clinic provider, a professor! Graduate work teaches you how to make a difference... how to be a leader, an influence, a source of power and change. It's great! But it's kind of exhausting when you're an idealist...

I guess I have to refer back to my pastor's sermons. 1) God is near 2) God is active. We may feel stuck - but systems can be changed. Make the effort to act as if the system is already changed like Rosa Parks did when she refused to give up her seat.

#gradschool #worldproblems #changeispossible