Hospital as a Melting Pot
One of the things I love about working in a hospital is the unavoidability of cultural mingling. Watching the news, feeling that there is a “culture war” just simmering and waiting to boil over is something I frequently experience. Looking at bumper stickers sometimes makes me feel that way too. I find solace in the hospitals that I have had the honor of working in. I do not know of any other institution that forces each one of its staff to wade so far outside his or her comfort zone so frequently, nor of a population of staff that so willing endeavors to do so.
An atheist surgeon stands with a family in a respectful silence as a prayer is said over a dying patient.
An evangelical nursing manager diligently works to ensure that nowhere in her hospital, will a same-sex partner be denied access from an ill loved one.