Shawn Whatley, Author at shawn whatley md

Shared Values – Why Lament Medicare, COVID, EDI, or Anything?

Most of us spent much of 2020 in lament.

We fought an invisible enemy we did not understand. Dread almost drove us mad.

Election rhetoric wafted north and multiplied distress.

A Stage

Radicals mix passion with clear ideas about what is wrong. They pour their potent brew into a bold politics of action. They seek change and threaten revolution.

The rest of us lament. We express our sorrow with intention. We state our case and press our cause. We tell the world why it should care.

But what right do we have to lament?

A lament presupposes that someone will care.

It assumes an audience with shared values. If we can make people listen, they will hear and deliver justice.

Shared Values

Lament becomes noise without an audience who shares your values. Just howling at the moon.

I have spent 7 years blogging (howling) a medicare lament.

What did I assume before starting, without even knowing I assumed it?

All complainers must assume something before they start to whine. They share the same assumptions as radicals and other social activists.

Why Join a Riot?

A radical says he riots precisely because society does not share his moral assumptions.

He is confused. Continue reading “Shared Values – Why Lament Medicare, COVID, EDI, or Anything?”

Book Launch: When Politics Comes Before Patients – Why and How Canadian Medicare is Failing

Updated post:

We had over 400 people view the live event on a variety of platforms. Thank you!

Here’s the edited video (front end trimmed, etc):

Opening Remarks by Continue reading “Book Launch: When Politics Comes Before Patients – Why and How Canadian Medicare is Failing”

Walter Mitty — Needs vs Wants

Many of us spend life chasing what we want but remain confused on what we need.

Perhaps we dream about the time we (finally) say what we think.

Someday I will say, “Sir, you eat too much.”

Even to suggest such a vicious thought betrays an unconscious heartlessness. (Call the college!)

Imagine charting only useful clinical data: AOM, Rx Amox. Nothing more. Delete 300 words about all you did not find – all you considered but did not do.

How long could you hide your rebellion? A day? A week or more?

To sleep, perchance to dream…

Walter Mitty – The Movie

In a character-defining scene, Walter sits on a bench waiting for the train. The elevated platform stands several stories above street level.

Walter chats on his cellphone with Todd Maher of eHarmony, an online dating service. Walter loves Cheryl, a co-worker, and wants to leave her a ‘wink’ online.

Todd looks at Walter’s profile. It is blank. Walter must tell about himself: What he has done? Where he has travelled?

But Walter hasn’t travelled or done anything special. He just goes to work.

“Have you done anything, noteworthy? … or mentionable?” Todd asks.

Walter freezes. The phone slips from his ear.

A distressed dog barks inside a nearby building. Something is wrong and Walter must find out.

Walter starts running past all the businesspeople on the platform. He picks up speed and leaps over the railing, arms outstretched. Flying through the air, Walter falls several stories and crashes through a window in a low-rise next to the train. Continue reading “Walter Mitty — Needs vs Wants”