The Politics of Jealousy

This is a long post, I know, but there are just some things that need to be said...

As I've mentioned before, I work in an operating room. I love my job because I get the opportunity to help people: patients and their families, nurses, anesthesiologists, and surgeons. Some of the patients that I help are children born with scoliosis deformities. If you don't already know, scoliosis is an S-shaped curvature of the bones in the spine. If severe enough and left untreated the patient literally may not be able to stand up straight, and their lungs can be affected because the spine is pressing down on them.

I had the unique opportunity and honor to be invited by a surgeon that I work with to accompany him to Trinidad & Tobago to do surgery on some children that have severe deformities that don't have access to the level of care that we have here in the United States. We spent a week there in July. The children's clinic in Trinidad has one single operating room that looked like something from the 1950's and only one surgeon. It's a facility that has 3 components, a clinic, a school, and a residential area. Every child there has some type of a physical deformity.

The work that we did was extremely rewarding and I must admit that I felt that I was truly doing work that God has called me to. Kids in the U.S. are spoiled with so many creature comforts that they (and all of us actually) take what we have for granted. The kids in Trinidad are so full of life and even more full of love. I can still feel their hugs in my heart to this day. I will never forget the experience and I'm blessed enough that the surgeon that I went with, has asked me to go with him again in January.

Sounds great right? Yeah, I thought so too. Unfortunately, the company that I work for and all of the other green-eyed monsters that are jealous that I was selected for the experience are battling me. While the surgeon has invited me personally and called my bosses and requested their permission for me to go, the company is dead-set on sending someone else to "give others the opportunity to be charitable..." We seem to be somewhat deadlocked as the company doesn't seem to understand that the green-eyed monsters were not invited; I was.

In all fairness, I understand where they're coming from in wanting to be fair to everyone, however, is this particular project the ONLY opportunity to be charitable? What about those people in need of charity here in the U.S.? If you are really hoping to do work internationally, there are many, many, organizations that sponsor missions trips be they medically related or not. So, my response to the company was why not recommend that others take the initiative to find their own projects? Why is it necessary to impose upon the opportunity that has been offered to me?

There has been no respect from my management for the fact that I established a strong professional relationship with this surgeon not only because of the quality of my work, but also because of who I am as a person and that is what has earned me his favor. I consider this doctor not only to be my colleague, but he and his wife also to be my friends.

But alas, we are at somewhat of a stalemate as the office insists on calling the surgeon back again to see if they can send someone in my place. The tone of discussions between myself and the local and upper level management has led me to question if I would be in the same situation if others were in my shoes. There are always those individuals within an organization that are the "golden children," those that can do no wrong and are favored above all others. I hate to say it, but quite often, more often than not actually, those "golden children" are white males. I believe that to be the case here as an email sent to me saying that the company wanted to entertain the interests of others, was copied to one such green-eyed monster, golden child; someone that wouldn't be able to identify my surgeon/friend from any other stranger on the street.

It's sad that no matter how much education you have, no matter how personable you are, or how well you do your job, there are those who still want to give your earned reward to someone else, whether the other person truly deserves the reward or not. It's amazing to me that in this case, the surgeon has been very clear in his request yet the company is attempting to keep me hostage for the benefit of those they favor.

Next November, I'm voting for Hillary Clinton. While yes, Barack Obama is black and sounds like a preacher and some want to fall into his camp solely for that reason, I believe that Hillary has more experience than any of her rivals. Not one of her opponents has lived in the White House and dealt with all of the dynamics that go with it. Not only that, she has a way of relating to me and other women whose abilities have been discounted just because we are women. The Clinton family has always connected with the black community and worked on our behalf. Instead of just showing up at black churches at election time, they have communed on a regular basis with black leaders in an effort to identify and address the issues of the black community.

I believe that Hillary will work to break the glass ceiling for people like me....black people like me...women like me, because I matter. My education and all that I've done in pursuit of my career matters. My commitment and dedication to be a good employee and citizen of this country matters. My vote matters....and so does yours!!!

Click below to see pictures from my trip in July. Thank God for natural hair because it was HOT, HOT, HOT!!! Are these kids beautiful or what? If given the opportunity to return in January, our team will be collecting donations to buy toys and supplies for the children. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended) ha ha...and please leave me your comments!!!

Trinidad July 2007 Pictures