Category: Life in General

I am up working in Canada as some of you may know. I had to go to the doctor’s today, which in Canada is a whole new experience, to get a persistent rash looked at. Canadians pay taxes to get “free health care.” Read “Socialized Medicine: The Canadian Experience” for a Montreal economist’s spin on the positives and negatives.

Here’s my spin. 2.75 hours waiting to see the doctor. One doctor serving one waiting room and six consultation rooms. Walk-ins, which I pretty much had to be since I am a U.S. citizen, were secondary to those with appointments. When I got there, the receptionist said the wait would be at least an hour. After I had been there 1.5 hours, walk-ins were told the wait would be at least 2 hours.

So I get to see the doctor who had the bedside manner of a turd…but smelled worse. At my doctor’s office back in Virginia, even if you are a walk-in, they weigh you, take your pulse, BP, an temperature. None of that here, I showed the doc the rash and he checked to see if I was breathing okay. Maybe there is a correlation there but I don’t know what it was.

He wrote me a quick prescription for a topical lotion which will hopefully help me get through this, recommended a few antihistamines to try other than Claritin, and suggested a bathing solution that is based on oatmeal. I liked oatmeal with raisins on a cold northeastern winter morning many years ago when I was a kid but have not had it in years. I certainly never bathed in it.

As I think back on it, it might have been cool. You could drop a turd in the oatmeal and it might be deemed a raisin. Speaking of nasty, I hate taking baths. Why should I lie in a tub, in this case with some oatmeal water, soaking in my own filth. You just have to take a shower afterward. WTF?

What the hell? I broke down and took a bath. I honestly cannot remember the last time I have done so. If it helps get rid of or eliminate the symptoms of this rash I’ll be happy but I won’t want to make it a habit.

Lastly, I think that the pharmacist spent more time talking to me about the condition and was more informative. Sure the meds are cheaper up hear but forget about the service. You cannot get a prescription filled up here that was written by other than a Canadian doctor. I guess if you don’t mind paying into the system to get the discount on meds you are okay. It is not for me though.

I respect the Dalai Lama as much as anyone I can think of. Exiled from his own country, he is still the object of adoration and respect for Tibetans and Buddhists world-wide. George W. Bush should be exiled from his own country which he has led into a position of hatred and disrespect around the world. Look at some of what the Dalai Lama says in a Washington Post op-ed published October 21, 2007, titled “Brute force can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom”

He speaks of the benefit of non-violent opposition as compared to the benefit of violent opposition. “One may sometimes feel that one can solve a problem quickly with force, but such success is often achieved at the expense of the rights and welfare of others.” Can you say Iraqi intervention?

“We need to embrace a more realistic approach to dealing with human conflicts, an approach that is in tune with a new reality of heavy interdependence in which the old concepts of “we” and “they” are no longer relevant. The very idea of total victory for one’s own side and the total defeat of one’s enemy is untenable. In violent conflicts, the innocent are often the first casualties, as the war in Iraq and Sudan’s Darfur crisis painfully remind us.” Can you say antithesis of George W. Bush? Add Somalia to that list of crises…

The Dalai Lama goes on to speak about religion, the role of women, care for the environment, and education, things that touch all of us. Please read the article and, please, care.