The law of standing up and being counted

This is a big one. All of the lectures I give have one clear message, ‘It’s hard to practice medicine ethically and effectively, and it’s easy to capitulate and give people what they think they want or what we have always done, but if you don’t stand for what’s right, the art of healing will get lost very quickly’.

I’m always told that ‘if I don’t do this as an example prescribe an antibiotic for a child with a clear viral ‘cold’, those parents will go and get it from my colleague down the road’. And my answer is always the same, ‘Each one of us makes a difference to the world through small acts of doing the right thing’. It’s not easy and it’s not fast but if we turn a blind eye, there is a guaranteed outcome; Nothing will ever change.

And this is not just about the practice of medicine. This is about the practice of life. If you meet injustice, big or small, take a moral stand. You don’t need to start a Facebook page, you don’t need to start a riot; all you need to do is identify the problem, identify the wrong and move on. You don’t even need to address the event or person. This about you deciding not to have yourself behave in that way.

If each of us makes one daily pledge to right a wrong, not to do what’s not nice, to take the moral high ground, slowly, almost imperceptibly the world will move into a better place.

My next Blog will share some ideas on … ‘The Law of Shut Up and Listen’.