We are all equal ........ but some are more equal than others!

The General Medical Counsel (GMC) in the UK is addressing some issues around doctors training and the question of disability…..how to balance between equality and fitness to practice? Are we all equal? And can my medical history, mental status, circumstances affect my ability to do my job or is this discrimination?

 There are no easy answers – as usual –  and as I think about the issue, I think this affect not only medical education but all walks of life. To be a police officer I have to be certain weight and height, not discrimination against overweight people but practical requirement to be able to catch the cheeky mugger as he runs like the wind in a busy shopping centre. I can not role on a wheelchair expecting to be offered a job as an airhostess not because of disability but because it will not be safe for me or the passenger in my care if I am not mobile quick enough to evacuate in case of an emergency.

I don’t want to see a doctor who needs more help and support than all his patients! I equally don’t want to see people rejected from jobs just based on their skin colour or gender or because they simply ‘don’t fit in’.

In this seesaw, I feel that equality is becoming a huge issue and almost all other factors seems to be forgoten. I think there are few questions to consider with any job;

-        Can I still do the job?

-        Am I a danger to myself or others?

-        Will my ideas, beliefs, mental status, medication etc get in the way of my professional judgement?

Equality, yes sure, great and wonderful but let us keep the balance on this seesaw and make sure that fitness to do the job is considered too.

I love you just the way you are ...... hmmm

You know the advice 'just be yourself' and then someone adds; 'but not too much'!

What does it mean to be 'yourself'? What if being yourself is to be grumpy, angry and vindictive? What if in being yourself, you are losing people’s love, attention and care? What then?

I guess the idea is not to pretend to be someone you are not. There are so many catch phrases at the moment promoted by all the self-help books and they go like this:

-        Discover the inner you

-        Release your potential

-        Live life as your true self

-        Understanding ‘you’

…and so many others that keep going on and on about rediscovering and reinventing ourselves.

So the question is, what happen after you discover this ‘inner you’ or after ‘reinventing yourself’? Are people suffering around you? Are they paying the price for your new discovery?

In our journeys to self-discovery, releasing our potentials, self- examinations etc, we forget sometimes that there are people around us who love us and care for us. Our quest to rediscover ourselves engulfs us in a selfish journey to focus on the self and forget all others.

In our new found love to live life as ‘ourselves’, we still need to be mindful of people’s feelings and not to hurt or offend just simply by claiming that:

                        Hey….I am being myself !

Reading between the….. lies!

Reading people’s CVs, personal ads, profiles and even obituaries is fascinating. They all read a happy, well balanced and amazing picture of harmony and maturity. From a ‘people person’ to ‘team player’ and from ‘outgoing, fun loving and loyal’ to ‘great parent and friend’. These are not lies and are not exaggerations, this is the way WE see ourselves, or the way we WANT to see ourselves.

I don’t think you will ever find a CV that says, ‘ I am a nightmare to work with’ or ‘I can only work when people listen to every word I say’. Personal ads is another one, no one will say that they are ‘indecisive, immature and got a lot of issues around commitments’! Instead, they like to see themselves as ‘easy going’, ‘a child at heart’ and ‘will only settle when I find my dream match’!

The good thing is that when God created us, he saw it was GOOD….all of it. With every part that we may not like or people might find it difficult to cope with, HE still finds us GOOD and longs for a relationship that last with us, just as we are, no pretends and no lies.