The view from my perspective, I readily admit, is different. When young men and women see the exhilarating fun of riding motorcycles, I see the mangled bodies from crashes and the many organs then available for donation. When family and friends rave about the wide variety of food at the casino buffets, all I see is the high numbers of hypertension and uncontrolled diabetes particularly in minority communities. And finally, when I hear recent discussion as it relates to brutality against African Americans at the hands of police and retaliatory violence against the men and women who are to serve and protect our communities, again I see it much differently.
As a physician, I took an oath to care for those in need and above all do no harm. My care for each individual patient is not influenced by race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. So with this latest turmoil in our cities across the country, I feel like I am torn down the middle of some horrific civil war.
I have been extremely grateful over the years to have cared for all types of people: rich, poor, educated, non-educated, old, and young. In addition, these patients have had a multitude of different careers such as professional, laborers, law enforcement and some have been working “jobs” that involved illegal activities such as selling drugs or themselves.
With this in mind, I feel deep empathy and sadness for the wives, mothers, husbands, and fathers who have lost their loved ones in the line of police duty. Not being able to sleep at night, not being able to eat, and not knowing how you will go on without that particular member of your family is an unbearable weight that no one should have to bear.
However, in that same breath, how do I calm the anxiety in my own dear friend’s voice when she has to worry about if her adult black sons will come home at night? She worries every time they enter their car and doesn’t stop worrying until they reach their destination. What about the mother who sends her children to school? Instead of reviewing the multiplication facts with her child, she now has to review the intruder safety plan.
Again, my view, my perspective is that we are a nation obsessed with guns, violence. To live in a civilized society with such high numbers of guns on our streets, movies/television shows that glorify death and mayhem and a lack of regard for each individual life is simply an abomination to me. Each day, I am overwhelmed by the news reports. Mass shootings, unarmed men and women violently killed by public servants, and countless other random acts of violence committed with guns. And please, I beg of you, lay down the argument that guns don’t kill people. Yes, they do!
In existence are many nations who are able to maintain law and order without each of their citizens walking around carrying guns in their holsters like some type of vigilante on the streets. I do not enjoy counseling patients after their experience with tragedy from gun violence. My wish is that physicians can return to our mission of educating patients about ways to live a long, healthy life and furthermore our legislators will recognize the need for immediate action to curb this societal decline we are now in.
Your family doctor,
Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D.
Assistant Professor
SLUCare Family Medicine
yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com
