This post is part of our collection of “Gold Nuggets” — our way of alerting the medical community to original artwork, poetry or multimedia that stimulate discussion and reflection.
In a blog post titled “Toward the clinical humanities: How literature and the arts can help shape humanism and professionalism in medical education“, Johanna Shapiro, PhD writes “I have never found a better way of encouraging students to ask questions and of stimulating a critical position in regards to the answers that emerge, than by having them read a poem or participate in a skit or gaze at a painting.”
If you have something you think would make for good discussion by the medical community, you can submit a Gold Nugget by following these instructions.
Prejudice
Blindness is a trying world
when people console me
and produce a friendship with me
because they pity me for being blind.
One must love me
for the accomplishments and gifts of me.
Blindness is like a thick layer of sand
hiding the many gifts which lay underneath.
My real friends are good archeologists
and excavate my world;
but others give up right away
because I am blind
and they see nothing but my faults.
Every time I falter
the sand deepens
and only the more careful people
push it away.
— Arielle Silverman, age 10, blind from birth
Discussion Questions
- Have you had an experience where others have helped you “excavate” your world? What impact did this have on you?
- Who are the “care-ful” people in your life?
- How can you become a more “care-ful” person in relationship to patients and their families, staff, colleagues and your own family?
