Back in the saddle

Here I am...I'm back. Back in Seattle, back at work (although a different hospital now...same poop, different county), back in my house with my wee doggies. I was thinking maybe I should start a whole new blog, since I am no longer working night shift and I'm doing doing very much knitting in the summer time, so I'm hardly knitting in the dark anymore. But how many blogs should one girl have? So for now I'll just keep this one, since I'm rather be working night shift and I'm sure I will knit more again, and I'm essentially lazy and can't be bothered at the moment to set up a new blog. Maybe next time I leave the country on another grand adventure, I'll make a new one :)

So anyway. Here I am but I don't really have much to say. And is anyone out there anymore? I have some tales from the ICU to tell...but I'll save those for later. For now, I just have an idea of what I what would do if I ran the world. Now, believe me, I rarely get these ideas, because I'm pretty much happy to let the lunatics run the world and to hole up on my desert island with my little dogs, a bottle of rum, and a Bob Dylan CD. My very own tiny version of isolationism, as enacted by the Republic of Rosebuttons. BUT I have one little request to make, to the people who are running the world: Everyone who is climbing or wants to climb Mt Everest...? Stop it. Get off the mountain. It's officially closed. Forever. First of all, people, why? Because it's there? To prove something? That's the lamest most egocentric reason of all. There are lots of things that we humans can do, or might want to do, but we shouldn't. And if you have something to prove, why don't you go to Africa and vaccinate some babies, or take over FEMA, or adopt an abandoned puppy, or just let that guy merge in front of you on the highway without giving him the finger? But I digress. As Einstein said, "Only two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity. But I'm not certain about the universe." So if you have something inane to prove to yourself or your peeps, go ahead and do it, it's none of my business. BUT...here's where I get pissed off: When, in the course of reaching your self-centered and pointless goal, it becomes acceptable to eschew all implicit moral behaviors, to stop being human. There is an acceptable code, on the mountain, that if another climber can no longer walk, you leave him or her to die. The reasoning is rational and cold: You hardly have enough energy to walk by yourself, it would be impossible to save another person by carrying them off the mountain as well. Implicit in this code is the idea that everyone is completely on their own on that mountain, no one can save anyone else, or even help anyone else. So climbers routinely walk by dying and dead people on their quest for their 15 minutes at the top of the world. And it is ok, because that's the code, and other people do it. BUT, as it turns out, there is no pot of gold on top of that mountain, there is not even a cure for cancer, or AIDS, or the secret to peace in the Middle East. There is not even very much oxygen up there. Yeah, perhaps there is a personal accomplishment, but if you're looking for accomplishment, try undergoing and surviving cancer treatment. Or flying cross-country with a one-year-old by yourself. For fuck's sake, just learn to change a flat tire. What I'm trying to say in my roundabout way, is that I have a huge problem with a useless activity that allows people to justify foresaking their own humanity and their duty to be human towards other people. Now, I'm the first person to snark at your whinging, snotty child on an airplane, or call you some choice four-letter words if you cut me off on the highway without your turn signal, and I might even whisper something about your poor judgment in selecting spandex shorts to my equally snarky friends, because I'm the first to admit I'm not the warmest or nicest person, and in general I don't like most people. BUT, if I found you lying on the ground, and you needed help, I would stop and use my sock to tourniquet your gaping flesh would or just hold your hand so you weren't alone, not because I'm a nice person, but because I'm a human being, and that's why we're here. And maybe I didn't climb to the highest point on the planet, but if that one other person 's life was a bit better because I was where I was, then that's okay. So, you crazy Everest climbers, get off that mountain. I think you left something down here on Earth...it might be your humanity.