I want the Book of Diagrams on My Desk by 2022

  The Book of Diagrams would certainly be an advancement of our understanding of medicine. There should a book such as this.
   Diagram a cough. Diagram congestive heart failure. Diagram cancer. The book would contain them all.
  About a year ago, I was discussing a doctor visit with a friend. I can't walk much. The doctor had diagnosed it as a bad hip, and wanted to replace it. My friend was retired, but she had once worked at the very medical establishment I was seeing. She, of course, felt, I should be operated on.
   Anyway, while in the process of discussing it all, I mentioned to my friend that it seemed like doctors should be able to tell me exactly what is happening, step by step, telling me in exact fashion the process that was leading to my not be able to walk.
   Not that the doctor wasn't able to tell me some things. The cartilage was gone. I was walking on a hip without cartilage. So, when I walked, it was bone-on-bone. Do you need to diagram it more than that?
   Yes, you do.
   What about each of my pains? What about each of my steps, and the pain that comes into them as I walk farther and farther? I stand up -- not yet having taken a step -- and at that point feel fine. But, the moment I take a step, the pain sets in. We -- living in such an advanced age of medicine -- ought to be able to diagram what is going on: When you place greater weight on the leg, an impulse detects both the increase in weight and the shift in bone positioning, and sends signals of pain to this spot and this spot to warn that the movement is not advisable.
   That would be my diagram. I don't know that the doctor would diagram it the same way. He might say: When you are standing still, there is no brushing action in the bones, one scraping against the other. It is only when you move that that scraping action occurs, so when you take a step, you feel the pain.
   I would want him to take it further. I would want him to explain why I tire, what is the process that leads to pain and tiredness increasing the further I walk. Why is it a tiredness -- almost a feeling that oxygen or something is being pinched out? There is stiffness involved. Are the stiff muscles preventing body fluids from reaching the body parts?
   Anyway, I suggest a book of diagrams. I am guessing no such book exists. I am guessing, in fact, that despite medicine being so far advanced, it is not this advanced. It knows cures and fixes, but it cannot diagram all the causes.
   Perhaps some it can. Perhaps we know that when you get a cough, it is because phlegm is hanging in your throat. You take a drink of water, and the phlegm might be washed clear. Or, you take a cough drop, and it causes the phlegm to break up. Something along those lines would be the start in diagramming how a cough works. Then, you would need to diagram how the cough came on in the first place: It was cold outside and you went outside, and the cold air touched the tender tissue of your lungs, affecting the ability of those membranes to function. To protect against this, the body sent a message to create phlegm, to cover over the otherwise unprotected membranes of your lungs. The phlegm is but an attempt by your body to keep your lungs functioning.
   So, I propose the Book of Diagrams. Every malady has a process that brings it about. Medicine, I am speaking to you. If you are so wise and advanced, diagram all my pains and sufferings. And, if you can't, then commence studies to determine what these processes are.
   I want a Book of Diagrams, and I want it on by bookshelf by, say, 2022. Are you up to it?

If SB96 Leaves any Lives out in the Cold, I Oppose it

I see a post on Facebook from State Rep. Ken Ivory, in which he said he planned to vote for SB96. I offer my input: Wish I had studied this issue more, Ken Ivory. "I have mixed feelings, though, from what I do know. If Prop 3 is flawed, then it should be changed. On the flip side, if all parts of society do not have medical care available to them, they should. I think of people dying because they do not have insurance. I think of procedures being turned down to those not adequately insured. It happens. In Utah. To me, if you can save a life, you do it. If it takes $100,000 to save that life, you do it. You do not argue that it will bankrupt your government. You find a way to pay for it, and you pay for it. The fact that we are concerned about bankrupting government to save people's lives points out how urgent it is to reform our medical system and to reduce costs. It is a must. Forgive, Rep. Ivory, but rather than opposing extending health care to everyone, I would to see legislation aimed at reducing health care costs. Is there so much as one bill up there on the hill this session attempting to do that?"

From Our Heroes, Come Our Values

   Start with John Wayne, if you wonder if movies and movie stars affect us. He's a hero, and from our heroes, come our attitudes.
    I was reading through a list of John Wayne quotes about a week back. Today, as I read them, they seem more innocuous. But, when I was reading them last week, I found in them elements I didn't like.
   Maybe that's because among the first I ran across were these two:
   "The reason there are so many stupid people is because it's illegal to kill them."
   "Life is hard; it's harder when you're stupid."
    You probably don't think they're that bad. In fact, you might have said things like that yourself -- which is exactly my point. Hearing someone we think highly of say something gets us thinking the same way. If nothing else, it reinforces existing values.
    I guess I think it not such a good thing to go around calling people stupid. Worse is when we ridicule them. I can imagine a person who's been influenced by the second quote going off on someone by saying, "Life sure must be tough on you, being's how you're such an idiot."
   We put another person down. We ridicule them. If we are mean-spirited enough, we might even take pleasure if the insult reduces them to crying.
   "Big baby. Did I hurt your feelings?" we continue.
   My question is, where did we learn to treat others this way? From our heroes, come our values. At least to a certain extent. 

False leaders see those who disagree with them as a challenge to their leadership. Real leaders see those who disagree as a challenge to help them understand.

It is the truth that real leaders seek, whether it is they who have it or someone else. They put aside their pride of being right and replace it with a gratitude for learning what is right.  

Great leaders change people, while weak leaders just get rid of them.

   A false leader does not want his wrongs to be seen. A true leader wants all wrongs to be seen, for he knows that they cannot be corrected if they are not uncovered. False leadership, then, is about your image, while real leadership is about becoming better than your image.