Sweet story.
Posted June 28th, 2008 by lumiel
Last week was a very hard week for me. As you know, we're in the middle of 800 wildfires in surrounding areas. I don't know how the others in this area are doing, but I'm just thankful that my clinic is air-conditioned, as the air quality here has been astoundingly bad. Having had childhood issues with my lungs, and having just returned from 2 weeks of heavy hay fever reaction to the green and flowering beauty of Austria, I unsuspectingly got swept up in the general reaction to this air.
Sunday is when the fires started. Monday evening I could barely make it to bed before I collapsed. I went in Tuesday feeling bad, but noticed that I perked up as I spent more time at the clinic. That's when I figured out that the air outside had something to do with it. Once I realized that, I picked up my clinic air filter and took it home to our bedroom, closed the door, and started air cleaning. The upshot of it was cancelling a full schedule of patients on Wednesday and staying in with raw herbs, needles, and constant sleep. Thursday was my day off, so I rested more. Friday I returned to work and was surprised by two patients paying me twice their normal fee.
They explained that it was for their "missed appointment" on Wednesday. They went on to say that they knew that I missed out on a whole day's income because I was ill, so they were just putting into the pot what they would have paid normally, had I been there, because not working, for me, meant not getting paid. It was their way of taking care of me, because I'd been taking care of them.
That's a very sweet story,
That's a very sweet story, Lumiel. Thanks for sharing it.
Lumiel, that is such a great
Lumiel, that is such a great story! I am finding my patients want to take care of me, too. One gentleman came in to my new clinic to help me paint and also brought in some extra cash--he said he got his stimulus check and wanted to send a little extra my way. It was such a sweet gesture!
Darlene Berger
Community Health Acupuncture Center
801 Livernois, Ferndale, MI 48220
248.246.7289
now that's what "social business" means
What a great story -- that's exactly what Muhammad Yunus is talking about when he says that most people are not, actually, motivated by money or profit as much as they are motivated by wanting to take care of people who are important to them.
I love this kind of story.
This is the opposite mindset of people who think that everyone woudl pay the bottom end of a sliding scale (even if they didn't need to). It's great to hear of concrete examples of folks having other ways of approachign the world. I think sometimes extreme situations like natural disasters help people get perspective on their (our) own situations, coutning our blessings as it were...
And I hope you do feel better Lumiel - it hasn't been too bad down here, at least not this close to the water, but we did have a couple bad days and it really made me feel for the folks who are closer to it (not to mention the firefighters, and the folks and animals who have lost their homes). Let us know if you are still having a hard time, maybe there's something we as a group can do as well (CA emergency relief fund?) :^)