"You're fired, Mr. Trump"

Imagine these words hitting our "industry captain" in some parallel Universe, which evolved beyond the survival of the "craftiest" stage. Here on Earth that struggle creates good television ratings; just on Monday, after “Apprentice”s finale, when Mr. Trump and Miss California were interviewed by Matt Lauer on another "prescient" matter, Mr. Trump hastened to point out his show’s ratings, unmentioned and unrelated to the interview’s agenda. Mr. Trump feeds on TV appearances, forever grooming his duck-butt hairdo and his image of the "biggest celebrity" (self-quote). On his "Apprentice" show he plays God before the contestants, as he quasi reveals the principles of success in business. But who are the contestants? Men & women of achievement in various professions: sportspeople, entertainers, performers, former Playboy bunnies, even a poker player – in the latest episode, i.e. "celebrities." If we haven't heard of them, that's why they enter the show! What moral code is revealed in Mr. Trump's boardroom: – team playing until the last act, when all niceties of civil behavior fall away & like gladiators, actors go for each other's jugular. Two absolute "Never-No's" of Mr. Trump's commandments:

1. Never quit voluntarily in anticipation of being fired - i.e. Don't deprive Mr. Trump of his favorite motto – You're fired!
2. Never offer to be "sacrificed", i.e. volunteer for possible elimination out of loyalty to a team member! In other words, when in a life threatening situation, don't mind your crew and the ship, save your own skin, captain Richard Phillips on Maersk!

Sometimes Mr. Trump relents from his iron code & consoles a contestant before firing him/her, recognizing he/she is "too nice a person" for the business world. On the other hand, the unabashedly obnoxious people are invited back for another season; they heighten the conflict in the contest drama. Sometimes a team wins by only a few dollars difference, yet that doesn't spare it from being shamed and ridiculed by Mr. Trump & the "winners". I am reminded of the dignified Captain Lee of Confederacy surrendering to the Union; the Union soldiers were warned not to jeer at their defeated compatriots. For Mr. Trump no one’s dignity, beside his own, is untouchable. The show is a study in people's behavior: extreme competitiveness, the interplay of shifting “alliances” & betrayals toward the final goal – winning. The goal justifies the means. The prize is secondary to the contestants’ ego-gratification. Animosities & strategies toward this goal build an interesting game and the business model of life according to Mr. Trump.

If there is another planet, where the highest functioning beings didn't evolve by “natural selection of the fittest", or they evolved past their primordial response brain, a Universe built on principle of individuals striving for self-realization, dignity, moral rectitude and compassion – Mr. Trump's kind would be the society‘s yahoos.

Finally, the show’s grand finale. Industrial strength hype is on. The finalists, Annie, the poker player, and the comedian Joan Rivers "hate each other's guts". Mr. Trump pokes the flame of antagonism by repeatedly asking opponents about their feelings toward each other. Annie is a superb fund-raiser. Her poker buddies don't feel the weight of money, they haven't earned by hard work; they plunk it down as easily as they shuffle it in on the green table. Annie plays her charm card; she has made gambling glamorous & her buddies generously support her effort. Joan, on the other hand, reveals true emotion. Her phone-calls inviting celebrities to the auction stayed unanswered & she ingeniously hired their gay impersonators; Lisa Minelli, Carol Channing, even a Joan Rivers’ double greeted & mingled with the guests. Later Mr. Trump confessed, that the real Joan plays herself much better! The party in Joan's quarters was well attended, lively, people having fun. In Annie's hall – fewer people, but Annie unloaded their “spare cash.”

The auction party over – contestants and previously “fired” celebrities – invited back for the final show, enter the board room. Annie wears a self-assured smile. Joan is composed and satisfied, regardless of the final verdict. Her experience of love given and received makes her a winner in her mind. In this show’s episode there are four more criteria beside the money raised, to judge the winner by. Annie raised almost three times Joan's amount. Impressive! Joan won in other three categories. Mr. Trump delays announcing the winner ; he asks the fired celebrities to pick a winner. Unexpectedly, majority pick Joan. Then he asks contestants themselves. Annie's ego, the driving dynamo of her actions, springs forward. Joan is firm & calm, standing for the old-fashioned values: honesty, integrity, charity. She opens a wider vista of humanity and reputation of America: we are a charitable country! While Any's charity is for the refugees worldwide – shown on a big screen – certainly a worthy cause, Joan is shown visiting and bringing lunches to lonely, physically impaired people right in New York City. She is seen in the charity's kitchen distributing meals. She is compassion itself. While Mr. Trump personally likes and admires Joan’s gift of comedy, Annie's ruthless, conniving "break-through" quality is his very success model, close to his heart. Whom will he pick? Could it be that his business and celebrity gravitas (that long, dark-blue coat weighs a ton) notwithstanding, he too stands under the producer's moral pressure, to pick a “designated” winner? Finally, he announces: Joan wins and it’s “You're fired, Annie”. Good night, America, you can go to bed with a good feeling that like in a fairy tale - compassion (the good) has won over "crafty"(the evil)! "See you next season" – pipes Mr. Trump to the camera, like blowing a kiss, in closing. The End.

©2009 Vlasta Diamant

New, totally revised TKR review

The FRST rehab clinic


As of this moment, it's been six weeks since my surgery. Recovery and rehabilitation are not painless. Everybody's pain tolerance and therefore experience differs. I cannot say that I have been in excruciating pain, rather in a constant discomfort of a varying degree. Since my body "kills the painkillers", I don't burden my liver with pills. It is important to listen to and monitor one's body's reaction at every step and make educated guesses, what is good for it. One should never stop educating oneself, learning about one's condition and the state of medical progress.
My second hospital stay wasn't pain-free and pleasant like my first one. Still, I had a noteworthy experience worth sharing.

"The Night Nurse"
As I pressed the button for the night nurse, a black nurse with pretty features, and judging by her color, not a single “white” gene in her lineage, came in. I asked her for a procedure to alleviate my discomfort. She showed me that “it was not necessary.” I insisted, and so did she. To ease up our stalemate or to cover up her feeling of insecurity, she started to straighten out my room. I was about to ask her, how is that going to help me. While she was tending to this mindless activity, she could have done what I had asked her to do. I did not trust her expertise, she knew it and it made her unsure of herself. My sensible argument, that was just about to leave my mouth, would have further fortified us in our positions. A thought flashed: I don’t have to do this – humiliate another human being. I sat on the edge of the bed and tears came to me, I did not know why. She asked me, why I was crying. I don’t know, I replied. I feel so vulnerable. She sat next to me, put her arm around my shoulder. We started talking about our experiences with doctors’ procedures and diagnosis. She was impressed by how much I knew about medicine. She suffered from irregular digestion, something very familiar to me until few years back. I told her about my own breakfast recipe, that’s nutritious and fiber-rich. Before she left, she performed the procedure, deftly and confidently. After she left, I wrote down the recipe on a paper napkin. The morning nurse came in, I asked her to call in the night nurse, if she is still on duty. She was, and she came. I gave her the recipe. She was moved by “my taking the time to write it down”, as if I were busy with more important things. She read the recipe and lit up: "Am I going to lose weight?". I cannot promise that, I said. She wasn't "fat", but like most people, she could stand to lose few pounds. She left thanking me. I was pleased at the turn of this little episode. Before the night nurse left her shift, she popped in once more to say good bye. Now I was touched. So ended my best experience I have had this time at the hospital.

Conclusion
No matter how advanced present or future medical technology, the physician/therapist/nurse-patient relationship should still be of paramount importance, and at the heart of healing.

No Need to Apologize, Mr. President

Recently on Jay Leno’s show much was made of President Obama’s remark about his bowling score qualifying him for the “Special Olympics”. Obviously he was self-deprecating, not demeaning the Special Olympics. Let’s keep in mind: While it is admirable that people with severe disabilities compete in various sports, inevitably their records are measured by a different standard. In order to make his bowling inefficacy funnier, the President exaggerated and put himself in the category of the impaired - thereby making fun of himself, not the Special Olympics contestants. How one kills a joke by explaining it! This President, unlike some of his predecessors, doesn’t cover up his shortcomings or mistakes as they manifest themselves. Beside his self-effacing honesty, he is blessed with a sense of humor: we, the public, should relish it, not chastise him for it. There is a growing sense of mean spirited, humorless "public opinion", intolerance of truth. The same spirit grazed Vice-president Biden who was characterized as having “his foot in his mouth” for speaking simple, straight-forward truth. Perhaps the public has been coddled in euphemisms and truth-substitutes for so long, that it cannot tolerate the truth any more. Let’s hope that the President’s integrity will cleanse public’s palate and restore its appetite for and acceptance of truth.

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