Every Word Counts

Dear Nurses,

I'm glad to be back to you after a stint in hospital and no blogging. I've just had my first ever visit to hospital and am more passionate now than ever about the power of your language as nurses to your patient's recovery.

I'd like to share a poem with you that Mother Teresa lived by when nursing her patients; it's called The Anyway Poem. As a nurse, every kind word of encouragement helps your patients to recovery so don't stop to worry about your grammar, don't fret over whether your words are as elaborate as your colleagues or as technical as the doctor's; be yourself and use kind empowering words, just because!

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta, and attributed to her. However, an article in the New York Times has since reported (March 8, 2002) that the original version of this poem was written by Kent M. Keith.]

Until next week,
Marie

SEX EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

SEX EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

By Noel D. De Ocampo, MSN/ED, RN
http://thefilipinonurseforum.blogspot.com/
June 22, 2010

The premise that the church has the moral obligation to promote God’s teachings is understandable as this is what most Filipinos believe in. But isn’t God promoting to protect the children from harm, too? By not teaching these children what their bodies will go through in their developmental stages is a clear indication that the church is refusing to evolve and would rather put these children’s health and well-being at risk.

Contrary to Filipino clergymen’s teachings, the more knowledgeable a person is about sexuality, the more responsible he or she becomes. Teaching sex and sexuality to children before their teenage years increases their awareness of many sexually transmitted diseases and the burdens of early parenthood. In the United States, sexuality education has been widely promoted as one of the most important educational responsibility since the 1960s. In recent years, this promotion increased significantly due to the proliferation of sexually transmitted diseases and significant increase in teen pregnancies (Daniluk & Towill, 2001).

Teaching sexuality does not necessarily mean teaching children to become promiscuous. Sexuality education and abstinence can be taught hand in hand. The time spent to teach sexuality may be the best time to teach abstinence and other health issues that most people are facing now. Most of these children will have sexual encounter eventually, and the best way to prepare them is to teach them what to expect and to teach them how to reduce risk-taking behaviors.

We are no longer in the Spanish era. Don’t let the church meddle with this very important educational initiative. Forget about flowers and bloom. Let the teachers talk about PENIS & VAGINA. There is nothing wrong with that.