My Introduction.

When I got my first job as a receptionist at a health clinic just a year ago, I was first surprised at how many of our meals consisted of donuts and pizza. Some time later, I was shocked to find no one in my office understood the truth about fluoride, then pleasantly surprised when the doctor and nurses opposed the H1N1 vaccine, and then shocked once more when I saw Equal packets for all of us to put in our coffee. Yum, aspartame.

This is not to discredit the health professionals I was working with, from whom I learned many things. They are intelligent individuals who not only taught me a countless amount of medical terms, but also showed me through example what true grace and character is.  It was through them that I learned when to listen more and talk less, to speak my opinions and not shout them, to smile at a difficult patient and offer them compassion.

However, I can’t help but apply some much needed harsh criticism to these wonderful people and wonder how educated professionals can remain so ignorant. Unlike some outspoken “conspiracy theorists,” I don’t believe it to be entirely their fault. After all, our performance in school is based off of how well we can repeat and memorize the things that a higher authority tells us…not how much we question, debate, and search for scientific truth (as a matter of fact, those things tend to get us into trouble!).  We’re rewarded for believing the public opinion and ostracized when we question it. It’s no wonder our brains have gone soft.

The idea for this blog came during a Sunday evening when I wondered how a society that has flown to the moon and photographed single molecules can still ignore their left-brained logic. We appear civilized to one another. We call ourselves modern society as if it implies something grand and illuminated. We appear to have cured many illnesses. Discarded silly superstitions with science. Explored our solar system, explained evolution. How is it, then, that when the FDA says rat poison is safe for human consumption, we believe it? Are you kidding me with this shit?

I’ll be the first to tell you: I am not (yet) a scientist. I am not (yet) very educated, and I am not (yet) a physician, a nurse, or even a medical assistant. Where I work, I answer the phones. Patients don’t often take me seriously because of my age. But I do have common sense, and I want to be part of the change.

Stay tuned.

- Kate