June 2011
26 posts
She is herself
She sits
She stares
She looks at everyone, everything, anything,
She can’t help but be like everything
She is self-contained, self-restrained, self-conscious,
She is wary
She wants to let go, of her inhibitions, limitations, expectations
She wants
She needs
She fills the room, a girl among many
She whispers, why now, why me
She sees nothing in herself that she doesn’t see in others
She is a part of a cohesive whole
She looks about
She wonders
She realizes
She’s an artist, a realist, a pessimist, an intellectual, a relationship seeker, a sensitive soul
She is, she can, she will be anything,
She is shaped by everything, but ruled by nothing
She is, herself
She is, herself
She, like so many, walk the earth
She, like so many, live a privileged life
She could have lived a different life
She could have been anything-a weeping willow, a souring snowflake, a daring dog, a confident cat, but
She wasn’t
She is a person, a woman, an impressionable being
She lives a life of twists and turns, bends and hurdles,
She’s had her hopes crushed, sprit lifted, dreams re-awaked
She feels, needs, yearns,
She is important
She is unique
She is herself.
By Remi Friedman
A E.R. nurse's thoughts on an instigator's "apology"
Ambulance cars line the streets outside of St. Paul’s Hospital’s emergency triage centre for those injured on the night of June 15. Photo credit: Andrés Goñi
Tim,
Just because you can string an apologetic sentence together does not mean you are sorry. Perhaps I should make you aware of the consequences of your action. To you, it’s just an overturned car that you set on fire. To me, it’s walking into an overflowing ER and helping treat a girl with a severe asthma attack because she was exposed to the noxious, acrid smoke of a burning vehicle. To her, it was just a chance to be a part of a group cheering for her team. Little did she know that later on, we were thinking of sticking a breathing tube down her throat if her condition did not improve.
To you (yes, I am lumping you with all the douchebag rioters in the ER that night), it’s a chance to congregate in the ER waiting room, pounding on the triage window demanding to be seen for teargas exposure and cuts from looting and fighting, while posturing and bragging about how you kicked the crap out of somebody and smashed shit up. To me, it’s taking my time away from the little old quiet lady having chest pain or taking time away from the person you “shit-kicked” for trying to stop the looting.
To you, it’s just a fight. To me, it’s the ER social worker looking for a teddybear to console a 4 year old girl because she just witnessed her dad get a broken nose as he was trying to get his daughter out of the hotzone.
To you, it’s writing a letter saying “you will do whatever it takes to help clean the city.” To me, it’s walking home after a long shift and seeing all these people at 7:30 in the morning armed with garbage bags cleaning up YOUR mess and realizing that these people have more class in their pinky finger than you could ever muster in your whole life.
To me, it’s getting home to shower, only to have my elderly neighbour knock on my door and ask me if he should make an appointment to this doctor because he was experiencing shortness of breath which later turned to chest pain in the morning. He did not think about leaving his window open as he went to bed at 9 o’clock. The smoke from all the burning cars made it to our building, into his room and triggered his asthma, which then raised his heart rate, which then became a small heart attack. I asked him why he didn’t go to the ER, and he answered, “I turned on the tv this morning and saw the rioting, I did not want to be a burden.” To you, it’s just an overturned car that you set on fire.
Why am I blaming you for all this? Because you are the instigator. You ask people to leave your family, friends and co-workers alone?! I think they need to know how much of a colossal douche you are. Remember that your parents worked themselves to the bone so they can move to this country and give you your god-given right to flip cars over and set them on fire.
You, Tim Kwong, are a douchtard. Apology not accepted.
— from a E.R. nurse
Letters from the Front Lines: Vancouver Riot: Please Stop Apologizing: a police officer's letter to rioters →
riot2011frontlines.tumblr.com
“You’ll sleep soundly in your bed tonight because men and women like me will always be there to deal with your poor choices. You have no idea how fortunate you are, even after we arrest and charge you. Even though you disgust me, if you call for me in the middle of the night I’ll respond….
“L’ancienne alliance est rompue; l’homme sait enfin qu’il est seul dans l’immensité indifférente de l’Univers d’où il a émergé par hasard. Non plus que son destin, son devoir n’est écrit nulle part. A lui de choisir entre le Royaume et les ténèbres”.”
—Jacques Monod, Le hasard et la nécessité (Essai sur la philosophie naturelle de la biologie moderne), Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1970. (via heibeschokoladenkuchen)
