Articles Concerning Quakerism
From the Clerk's Bench
Spiritual
Masons
Thoughts
on joy and woe
Celebrating Times And Seasons
What do people
think about during Meeting?
Why do people sometimes speak?
Words of Wisdom
Worship
& Ministry Committee Articles
Traditions Concerning
Meeting for Worship
Meeting for Business
Getting to the Church On Time
How
to Explore a Meeting
Quaker terms
The
Real Work of Christmas
Your
Friend William Penn
The Light
Within
On My Honor
Martin
Luther King
Lessons
in the Garden
Integrity
& Medical Errors
Quotes
From
the Clerk’s Bench by John Bailey
Driving to Meeting this morning I witnessed something that
I’ve seen many times. Today I perceived this image differently. Perhaps what
is different is that I am sitting here with my spirit open and my eyes closed.
It was a squirrel crossing the road in front of the car before me. We
have all seen this uniquely squirrel like crossing routine.
Darting across at full speed then changing direction 180 degrees, then
back. As always, I held my breath and hit the brakes.
This time he made it. He managed to dodge all this energy. He was going
against the flow, the main stream. Someone who was not going to stop and
consider his reasons. He took his chances and did it. Sometimes I feel like this
squirrel. Trying to do something that goes against the energy of our speeding
society.
I thought of how other animals deal with crossing this highway that seems
to have a right to exist by its might or some perceived and perhaps twisted
freedom. The deer will also dash across, but will freeze in the middle of the
road. I can also relate to this.
Then I remembered the goose. Who hasn’t seen a family of geese crossing
the road with their heads held high in a line with the parents and goslings
waddling along while traffic is at a complete stop, until they all slowly reach
the other side? I have also felt like that a few times in my life when I’ve
held my head high and stopped the mad rush. Or maybe just diverted it for a
moment.
My thoughts wandered to Thursday’s anniversary of the 1963 civil rights
march on Washington and Martin Luther King’s famous speech. Those folks held
their heads high; they stopped the seemingly unchangeable flow of
America
. I thought of Pricilla Adams an
employee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting refusing to pay her "war
taxes." And of the pending legal action by the IRS against PYM for refusing
to garnish her wages. They believe in crossing that road with their heads high.
Then I thought of our own Peace Fair and how we have literally stopped the
traffic on Rt. 202 with the incredible number of cars flowing into the fair.
We may also, in some small way, be redirecting a certain flow.
I want to be a goose!
@@@
Spiritual
Masons
When we welcome a new attender, a congregation at a wedding or a memorial
meeting for worship, we speak of the physical place and the lovely stone and
wood that make up our Meetinghouse, a place inviting to Friends for these 235
years. But, we are more importantly referring to the spiritual Meeting of
Friends, the Meeting that would exist even if these walls were to pass into
rubble.
It occurred to me today that the stones of this Meeting
that so long ago were built up high are held there by an invisible force. The
force of gravity “set” these heavy stones and continues to hold them
together. A thing that rises up held there by a downward force! This of course
sounds paradoxical. A Friend once told me that when we find ourselves in a
paradox, we are in a spiritual place.
The master mason that selected and lifted the stones placed both large and
small, rough and smooth to complement and support each for the strength of the
walls and perhaps therefore for beauty. He also placed a bit of mortar to help
gravity distribute its force. He followed ancient rules to use the force and
never disputed its existence. A force, an indisputable force, that even to this
day remains a mystery. That worker long ago could not touch or see it but
possessed the faith that it would hold those stones in place.
Invisible forces also hold up our meeting of spirit. Our individual
spirits, like the stones, are connected to every other spirit while being under
the influence of a force. A force not just downward or upward but perhaps inward
and outward. Something invisible yet felt by all and disputed by some. I feel
this force strongly within these walls. Perhaps this is because the spirits of
all those who worshiped here throughout the years and have passed on are still
part of this meeting of spirit. They have not come loose and fallen out. They
still hold us up. Their support has nothing to do with human time and earthly
erosion.
The mortar that helps this force and keeps us close is the
love that is part of us all.
Unlike the stones, we “point” our own mortar everyday. We choose to
love. We choose to accept love. Everyday we decide how strong the connections
are to each other. We decide to build the bond with love. There are storms that
have ravaged the stone Meeting and there will be many storms to test our bonds.
Are we apprentices to a master mason? Can we hope to ever get it right?
These bonds of community do not stop at the Meetinghouse threshold. We choose to
maintain a meeting of spirit everywhere in our lives and in all our connections
with others. Maybe finding a spot for the rough, different-hued or unusual
“stone” helps us to master the craft. Learning to direct the invisible force
in or lives is what lifts us up. Our responsibility, like the mason’s, is to
build. To construct something beyond ourselves with a beauty beyond beauty,
beyond this world into the eternal.
######
Thoughts
on joy and woe
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
This bit of William Blake’s Auguries of innocence has
helped me through some low times.
This world is full of woe, much of it because of violence.
Disagreements are part of life. In fact it could be said disagreements are
necessary.
With respect, a disagreement leads to a higher place. It can be a sort of search
for a higher knowledge. Sometimes even a joy. The old thesis-anti
thesis-synthesis.
But when does a disagreement cross a line and become a disrespectful degradation
of the parties involved? When does
it become violence? Perhaps when one’s joy becomes another’s woe that line
is crossed.
Perhaps instead of weaving clothing for the soul, when
one’s woe produces another’s joy, there is instead a heavenly fabric, a kind
of ripping apart.
Maybe we have felt good, even fleetingly, when we are proven
"right" and another "wrong." Its name, one-upmanship"
means to be "above" another. That feeling may be a kind of theft from
that divine weave.
What is "right" exists outside of us. In a divine place that
takes two different opinions to find. When we teach that another’s woe is our
woe and another’s joy is also ours, we will move beyond violence, we teach
love, we teach oneness. We teach the light in us all comes from the same light.
@@@@
Celebrating
Times And Seasons
Early Quakers saw that the days of the week and the months were named
after pagan gods or Roman emperors, so as part of their testimony to simplicity
and as part of their Christian faith they started to refer to the days and
months by their numbers. So 25th March became 25th day of Third month. Sunday
was First day, Monday Second and so on. In Quaker business meetings today you
may still find the old practice used but the modern way of dating letters is
itself very similar and very simple e.g. 25.3.95, so you are just as likely to
find modern Quakers using the modern method. Most Quakers in
Britain
today however use the names of the days just like other people. Traditionally,
Quakers do not keep the Christian festivals. This is because early Quakers
believed the Incarnation and the Crucifixion and Resurrection can and should be
remembered at all times of worship. Similarly, the presence of the Spirit (as at
Pentecost) should always be felt or
acknowledged. God may always be thanked and praised for
these things. Since Quaker worship is open to the leadings of the Spirit, it is
possible that the Meeting will be led to remembrance of particular events at any
time of the year - not just times such as Christmas and Easter.
Nowadays Quaker families mostly
celebrate Christmas at home - with all the usual traditions of our society,
although perhaps with an extra emphasis on giving to charity - also, since many
Quakers are vegetarian, it is not unusual to find a special vegetarian dish
instead of the turkey at a Christmas dinner. Some meetings now hold meeting for
worship on Christmas Day, or hold a party or other social occasion in the
Christmas season. The biggest annual Quaker event is the Yearly Meeting which is
attended by as much as one tenth of the membership. Though this is a serious
business meeting, the renewal of friendships and the many surrounding events
make it a type of 'festival'. In recent years British Quakers have also held a
summer gathering which allows Quakers of all ages to worship, celebrate, study
and have fun together.
@@@
What
do people think about during Meeting?
Ideally
every one attending a Quaker Meeting for Worship (or any other religious
service) should be able to concentrate completely on God, think high-minded
thoughts, and receive inspiration. Some Friends have always felt this should be
done through seeking in their silent worship to shut off or
rise
above individual thoughts and reach an emptiness open to the speaking of God. As
one of the early Quaker writers put it, "When the soul comes to this
silence and as it were brought to nothingness as to her own workings, then the
devil is shut out."
For
most of us, however, worship involves processes of thought, and these are not
always as open to God as we might wish. We tend to carry into the period of
worship all the baggage of worldly interests and worries. Especially in the
early part of the meeting, as people assemble and the group "settles
down", one is still likely to think about mundane matters such as pending
problems, duties for the week ahead, or the happenings of the day.
Gradually,
and often by an effort of will, you usually are able to put such matters into a
deeper or broader perspective and to consider some of their fundamentals rather
than incidentals. Or you may be able to leave these worldly concerns completely
aside and move to think about some particular
aspect
of what one's relationship to God or humans should be. This may be encouraged or
guided, as we shall notice, by the words which some one in the meeting may feel
moved to speak.
Finally,
in the most productive worship, your thinking may move toward ways to apply that
which has been under consideration, what your duties are in doing this, and how
God is leading and supporting you in what should be done.
Much
of the effectiveness of applying one's thinking in the ways which I have just
described depends on the mood of the individual and even of the group as a
whole. There are times when we simply cannot rid our thinking of personal
worries or momentary events and transcend them to thoughts on a more religious
level. Friends recognize that on such occasions the results of a meeting for
worship may not seem very valuable or satisfactory. Yet they feel that the
effort to worship and even the quietness of meditation usually is beneficial,
and that more often than realized at the moment a seemingly less-than-ideal
period of worship may in the long run have given something of eventual value.
Why
do people sometimes speak?
Even
though Friends feel that silence is a basic help to worship, they believe that
at times one can be "moved" by God to communicate something helpful to
the other worshipers. In fact they become rather bothered if meeting after
meeting goes by in total silence.
What
one is moved to say may take many forms, drawing from prayers, from the Bible or
other inspirational writings, from poems, from deep concerns of the day, from
personal happenings, from current time marks such as New Year's or Easter.
Ideally, the speaking is brief, perhaps merely a few sentences. It is not a
sermon, but merely a communicating of what one feels God-inspired to share with
the others.
It
is expected that after some one speaks there should again be silence for a few
minutes, as the worshipers ponder the implications and applications of what has
been said. This may lead to further speaking as the original concept is expanded
or molded, but not to debating or argument. Some in the group may feel that a
message has spoken to their condition"; others may not. Often worshipers
discover that the words which are spoken express what they themselves have been
thinking, or guide them to new and better directions.
But
those who speak in Meeting for Worship supposedly do so because they feel they
have to, not just because an intriguing thought has crossed their minds. And
when some one speaks from that deep motivation it does not seem to break into
the silence. Instead what is said tends to enhance the silent worship, making it
more fruitful to all present.
Here is part of a
Whittier
poem about speaking at Meeting:
Till haply someone felt
On his moved
lips the seal of silence melt,
Or without
spoken word, low breathing stole
Of a diviner
Life from soul to soul
Baptizing in
one tender thought the whole.
Thanks to Laurence Barber,
Yarmouth
Meeting
Words of Wisdom
Friends,
The principal of my daughter’s high school, Miss Brady,
speaks to the students each Wednesday morning via TV monitors in each class. She
does something she calls Wisdom Wednesdays. She usually has a few words about
things like respect, tolerance or other character building virtues. There
normally is a quote included. Her last bit is always the same. She says, “Make
it a great day . . . or not. The
choice is yours.” I along with
many parents receive Wisdom Wednesdays by email. Here is an example:
Good Morning, Hunterdon Central. This is Miss Brady with a few words of wisdom.
All
we human beings have one thing in common: We are sailing through life the best
way we know how. And have you
noticed that some of us are sailing on smoother seas, while others are sailing
in some pretty rough waters? In
other words, some of us are facing very few challenges and others seem to face
one major challenge after another. We
can all agree that it’s easier to be a successful human being when everything
is “smooth sailing” and harder when things are rough.
Now listen to these words from American minister Robert Schuller:
Any person can be successful on smooth seas—but, it is the victor over the
storm who gains true honor.
If your life is a bit stormy and the waters are rough, remember this: If you
hang in there, ask for help when you need it, and keep a positive attitude,
you’ll be a stronger, wiser human being when you reach the other side of the
storm.
With something to think about, this is Miss Brady. Make it a great day . . . or
not. The choice is yours.
I asked
Erin
how the students react to these words of wisdom. She said that for the most
part they don’t seem to be listening. She did say that almost everyone either
lip syncs of speaks aloud the principle’s last part. As I read her words on my
computer each Wednesday, I imagine a school of over 2000 teens and they are all
repeating Miss Brady’s words, “Have a good day or not. It is up to you.” I
love getting these words every week, but at first I thought that the joke was on
her. Then I realized that if these kids were not listening, how would they know
when to repeat those ending words of hers? They need to listen for the cue.
Perhaps Miss. Brady really knows these kids and is getting through!
You and I hear spiritual words everyday. They can come from
the most unexpected sources. Are we listening?
There is a small still voice within us all that also speaks
to us. Do we turn the volume down to the rest of our lives enough to listen? Are
we just listening for our cue? Can our first day worship provide a place to turn
the volume down?
To paraphrase Miss Brady, we can choose to listen or not. It is up to us.
@@@
Worship
& Ministry Committee Articles
by John Bailey
The Worship and Ministry Committee would like to present
a series of articles concerning Friends Meeting for Worship. This is the first
in the series.
The committee is thoughtfully lead to
discuss the “traditions” of our form of worship.
These traditions are guidelines that
Quakers have used for over 350 years. Guidelines meant to expand our spiritual
connection not just rules of restriction.
They exist as traditions and not
steadfast rules because Friends believe that matters of the spirit can evolve
and are continuously being revealed to us. To live by the light of God, not
ruled by a temporal list, is what sets Quakers apart from most religions.
Our Meeting for Worship is a time of
listening and waiting on the spirit. We are all equal partners in this
experience. Equal in the responsibility to interpret what is reviled and open
for it to touch our being. It has been said, “We are all receivers and we are
all transmitters.”
One “Tradition” is concerned with
the practice of reading aloud from books or articles. The exception is the
Bible.
Many friends speak of being prepared
for Worship. This preparation involves practices that may help in stilling the
mind. Some Friend use music. Many find reading materials that inspire us as a
way to settle into a spiritual place. They encourage us to open our hearts and
minds for the Worship to come.
Why would this practice of reading
aloud at Meeting for Worship be questionable? This, at first, may seem
restrictive, as we all have read incredibly spiritual words that have stirred
our spirits. These written words often “speak to our condition”.
Why would these same words be questionable read in Meeting?
An example of this concern was part of
an article recently published in the March issue of Friends Journal. In this
article Robert A. Callard writes, “ I was reading so-and-so’s book, and it
came to me….What could seem more natural than actually to have the quote in
hand rather than a loose paraphrase? So out comes the clipping.”
Perhaps the Friendlier approach would
be to use the “loose paraphrase”. If the spiritual within the article
touches the speaker, it is in the individual revelation and interpretation that
Friends have traditionally held most important. If the spirit of that article
“speaks to their condition”, perhaps the message of condition needs to, or
even must, be shared. A message that comes from a living revelation not the
symbols on paper is traditionally more welcome at Meeting for Worship. In the
words of Paul, “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life.”
This importance to the living spirit
can point the way for both Friends messages during worship as well as the spirit
of our traditional guidelines.
What if a Friend persists in reading
aloud at Worship? Friends do practice “Eldering”. The eldering can take the
form of a simple discussion after Meeting to ushering out a Friend from the
Meetinghouse. The latter is rare and used when there are grossly inappropriate
messages such as words that are hurtful or violent. (Friends would care deeply
for the individual’s state of mind and try and help them through all possible
means.)
Early Friends used the word
“experimental” in describing our faith.
Answers are sought and we all follow
our individual spiritual paths.
Being open to the spiritual paths of
our fellow seekers can make all the difference.
I will end with a part of Robert
Lawrence Smith’s A Quaker Book of Wisdom.
Traditional Quaker Meeting, as
inaugurated in the seventeenth century, has been called an experiment in
religious anarchy. Because all authority is vested in all members, all
people are equally entitled to speak. Each meeting is a gamble with the
human spirit, a wager that more will be brought out of the room that was
brought in – more depth, more insight, more truth, more knowledge, more
growth in each and among all. An individual’s “vocal ministry” is
expected to conform to the idea of sharing the light within as a means of
reaching the light in others. It should also be both succinct and
spontaneous. But it doesn’t always happen that way.
@@@@@@@
Meeting for Business
by John Bailey
I have been feeling pretty good about the state of our meeting lately. The
Fair was wonderful, the "All School Meeting" had an increased
attendance and we have some new attenders. However, there is something I must
communicate with the membership. That is the small attendance of our Meeting for
Business.
Today was our monthly Meeting for Business and we were unable to make the
required member attendance of 10 (a quorum). We had 9 members. This "just
under" a quorum has been typical lately. Many friends may be unaware that
our bylaws state that a quorum is required for Buckingham Friends to conduct our
business. We are unable to make approvals without at least the 10 present. Today
was also the annual Business Meeting for
Buckingham
Friends
School
and we could not even approve the Head of School’s report. Luckily the
school’s financial report and audit was not ready in time for today’s
meeting so that is held over till next month.
Friends, we at Buckingham Friends are the corporation of the school and
are critical to making major decisions. I believe that our Worship lately has
been rich and centered. Quakerism, although quiet in worship, is a religion that
speaks though action and service. This is what attracted me, as I am sure many
of you, to this meeting.
Meeting for Business is the heart of that service in which our Meeting as
a whole is involved. On the Meeting for Business days, I am often struck how we
make that transition from a community of faith to one of practice. Not only do
we reflect on the outcome of our many hard working committees, we also make
important decisions concerning action the Meeting takes on a range of issues.
There is an old Quaker saying, "When the worship ends, the service
begins." The tradition of Friends translating their beliefs into action is
the core of modern Quakerism.
Please join us ... as many second first-days as you can, to continue that
tradition.
#####
by
Tim Cunningham
I grew up in another church, which had services every Sunday at
6:30
,
7:30
,
9:00
,
10:30
, and
12 noon
. Since I come from a family that
believe sleeping and eating should be Olympic sports, especially on a weekend,
the first three were certainly out of the question.
If we missed the
10:30
, we could always say, “Well, there’s always the 12…”
And wouldn’t you know it, on more than a few occasions, we made it to
the 12 a few minutes late.
When I was led to the Friends, I hardly expected anything to be the same
as the other church—and I was right, of course.
And since I was getting myself up and to meeting each First Day, and
since there was no late show, I could certainly get myself there on time, right?
Well, you don’t forget 20 years of practice overnight.
While I was and usually am here at
10:30
(did you know it used to be 10 in the summer and 11 in the winter?), when I
wasn’t, I usually had a rationalization. (Unfortunately,
it wasn’t that I couldn’t find a parking spot like at the other church.)
Now, for example, I live 30 minutes away from meeting.
Well, sometimes it’s 40, or 45, depending on traffic and what’s going
on at Peddler’s Village. And
wouldn’t Friends like it if I stopped for doughnuts on the way?
Even when I was late, Friends seemed genuinely glad to see me at the rise
of meeting, and no one ever mentioned it. (Whew!)
But I know they did notice. You
see, at the other church, they didn’t. No
one noticed me enter, no one noticed me leave, and no one missed me if I
didn’t come at all. But we must
admit that when we enter late, there is a tiny break in the silence, and silent
worship is how God’s messages are revealed to us.
We are enriched by every person’s presence, whether they come for
singing at
10:15
or through the back door at
10:40
. In other words, please come!
But take it from an expert: here are some handy tips if you aren’t
exactly here on time:
·
Although our different seating arrangement may require some
changes, traditionally if you are entering after
10:30
, instead of using the door that faces the parking lot, walk around the corner
to the first door that faces 202/263. But
if you have special needs, please ALWAYS enter through the main door where the
ramp and handrails are!
·
If there are a few people coming in from the parking lot at about
the same time, try to enter together as a group.
·
The latches on our doors can be either very quiet or very noisy.
Turn it into a game—how quietly can
I open the latch? And don’t forget
closing it on the other side!
·
If someone is actually speaking when you enter, come in and close
the door, but wait until they finish to find a seat.
·
I think I invented this one: the children leave for
First
Day School
at
10:45
. If you slip in while they slip
out, there’s no interruption, and probably only Bethann will notice.
·
And, if you are sitting in meeting and someone enters, let them
do it in peace! Acknowledging their
presence or turning to see who it is can be disruptive too.
That’s my bag of tricks, well honed from 15 years of practice.
But then again, what’s the worst that could happen if I left home five
minutes earlier?
@@@@@@@
How
to Explore a Meeting
By Richard Allen, in Yours
in Friendship
You may ask: What is the point of just sitting in silence with other
people? There isn’t really any verbal answer. The Quaker way does not lend
itself to being directly taught. I can only give you some hints to help you
explore a Quaker meeting, and so find out for yourself.
When you got to a meeting on a Sunday morning, try if you possibly can to
arrive in an unhurried way a few minutes before the stated time. There may be a
doorkeeper who will indicate the meeting room. Just go in and sit down in
silence; the meeting begins when the first person arrives. If you are early,
please sit a little way away from the door, so as to leave room for latecomers.
It helps to settle down in a comfortable position, preferably with back
erect, hands loosely in the lap and legs not crossed. Many people prefer to
close their eyes. It often helps, too, to relax all parts of the body one by
one, beginning with the feet and ending with the eyes and tongue or vice versa.
Then breathe deeply and slowly a few times. There is nothing magical or
spiritual about these procedures, they are simply what others have found to be
an effective preparation for entering into the silence.
Centering down
How does one make the journey inward? To be honest, nobody can really
describe this in words. All I can do is to mention a few practical measures
which Friends use to “center down”. These are not psychological techniques
or gimmicks, but well-tried, age-old disciplines to help people attain inner
quiet. If you are Christian, you can say over in your mind a short prayer which
ahs significance for you. The shorter, the better. Everyone will have a
favorite. Often a single word such as “God” or “love” repeated in the
heart will help.
You don’t have to be able to call yourself a Christian to take part in
a Quaker meeting. If you belong to another religion, you also may have a prayer
which is especially dear to you. If you have no specific religion, or are one of
those people to whom the eternal, “That Which Is” or “God” or whatever
name you do or do not use, comes in a more impersonal way; you may equally well
recall a beautiful view or a favorite piece of music or poetry. We all have
something precious on which we can steady our minds, for it is love that is the
real gate to the inward pilgrim’s way. Life “God” and “Christian”,
love is an overworked and misused word. What I mean by the word is “valuing
something just for itself, being simply grateful that it exists. Love in that
sense is especially there when we hold up other people in our mental arms and
desire only their wellbeing. It can be strongly present in a Quaker meeting,
where the members usually know and care for one another personally. It seldom
fails to embrace the newcomer as well.
Difficulties and
rewards
You may quickly find your way, but arriving at the still center is a
grace, a gift, which cannot be learned or achieved or commanded. You can only
open yourself to it. And that can be quite difficult. The Quaker thin is not a
religious soft option! Sometimes the silence may seem cold and lifeless- a mere
absence of sound. Or more likely you may find that, as soon as you try to center
down, distracting thoughts will dash around in your mind like bluebottles.
Feeling sore about a tiff with someone, planning what to do next Thursday,
wondering whether you turned off the oven-everything demands your attention.
There is no cause to worry about these trivial thoughts or your inability to
control them. Try to make friends with them, then gently put them aside. Then
return to prayer or another gate by which you entered the silence and start
again. Even if that doesn’t work, there is no need to despair. If you do
nothing but start again and again, you will find that the hour has not been
wasted. You ay well discover that a harassing problem has got nearer to being
solved, and a deep worry about a dear one may have become more bearable.
########
from: Beyond Majority Rule by
Michael J. Sheeran
Centered: A
condition of an individual or a group in touch with the divine presence.
Clearness: Confidence
that an action is consistent with the divine will.
Leadings: A sense of divine
guidance or revelation in any action.
Meeting for worship for business: A gathering of Friends for the purpose
of making business decisions.
Monthly Meeting: A
local community of Friends in which membership resides. So named because, by
custom, the community meets once a month to conduct a meeting for business.
Quarterly Meeting: A regional
unit comprised of two or more monthly meetings which meets on a quarterly basis
and conducts a meeting for business.
Sense of the meeting: The
harmony (union, unity) reached by participants in a business meeting.
The above is from: Beyond
Majority Rule by Michael J. Sheeran
The
Real Work of Christmas
(Nineteenth Century Quaker Benediction Traditionally Spoken at Christmas)
When the song of the angel is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the Kings and Princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks
The real work of Christmas begins.
To find the lost
To heal the broken
To feed the hungry
To release the prisoners
To rebuild the nations
To bring peace among brothers
To make music in the heart.
William
Penn was born on
October 14, 1644
. He was called Will by his family
and friends. Will’s father, Giles, was an admiral in the British Navy.
Giles Penn was a hero. His
mother Margaret was from
Ireland
. Will had a sister named Peg and a
brother named Dick. The family was
rich and lived well. Will got to
know the woods and loved nature. He enjoyed the outdoors and was great at
running and jumping. He also loved
Aesop’s fables.
Will was a good student and had a great memory.
He knew Latin and Greek, perhaps because he went to school 12 hours a day
all year round without breaks in the school day.
Will was called slapdash and fast in his schoolwork.
Penn thought the work was too pokey. Will experienced God when he was
young. He prayed and heard God say,
“I will always be near to you. Have
faith, in your God, young Will.”
Things really changed for the family when Will’s
dad was sent to the Tower. He was
called a traitor and stripped of his honor.
Giles hadn’t done anything wrong or different – the people in charge
in
England
just got nasty. Will left school when he and his family moved to
Ireland
at the age of12. Will met a Quaker,
Thomas Loe, at age 14. Loe and other
Quakers were called freaks because they were different.
Will went to a silent meeting like ours with Loe.
He noticed that the Quakers kept their hats on because taking them off
would mean giving undue respect to certain people.
Loe spoke about non-violence and told Will about mistreatment of Indians
in
America
. Will was inspired. A new leader
came into power in
England
, Richard Cromwell. Will’s Dad was
not only let out of prison, he was asked to be in Parliament, the government of
England
. Will moved back to
London
with his family. Will went to school at
Oxford
. He was not impressed with his
snobbish schoolmates whom he considered loose, idle, and profane.
His schoolmates were cruel to Quakers.
When Will refused to go to
Oxford
’s Puritan chapel, he was expelled and was then thrown out of the house by his
parents.
Will went to
Paris
. He studied law and did very well,
then he traveled in
Italy
. When he returned to
England
his parents were proud, but he still didn’t work things out with his father.
At that time there was a plague in
England
. The Quakers helped and that made a big impression on Will because the plague
was a disease that killed people and few other than Quakers were willing to get
near those sick with the plague.
The next big event that influenced Will’s life was
a rebellion in
Ireland
. Brave Will got involved and met
Loe again in
Ireland
. At that point, Will decided to
become a Quaker. Will wrote about
how all men are equal, and was arrested because of what he wrote.
He refused to use his father’s influence to be released and spent
almost a year in prison in an icy cell with bad food, no books, and no visitors.
While in prison, Will wrote another Quaker pamphlet.
Twice a jury voted to release Will and unfair judge wouldn’t let him
go. Finally, Will was released.
Will’s father was very sick.
Will went home and reconciled with his dad before he died.
Will’s father asked King Charles to look out for his son. Will met Guli,
a beautiful, modest, natural, devout Quaker, who was Will’s age, 24.
Will saved Guli’s younger brother John’s life when he was thrown off
a horse and into a river. Will preached about Quakerism and was sent to prison
again. He wrote more about being a
Quaker while in prison, and also wrote to Guli every day. One of the first
things he did when he was out of prison was see George Fox off at the docks when
he made his first trip to
America
. George Fox sent Will off to
Holland
and
Germany
. Will married Guli when he returned. Will
and Guli lived in the country, had a stable, lime trees, and gardens in
England
.
The king ordered a stop to the prosecution of
dissenters, which made Will. Soon his wife had twins, but both died.
Later he had a son named Spingett who he was always very close to and
another son name Billy who didn’t turn out to be such a nice guy.
They also had a daughter named Tiche.
The Penn children went to school at home.
They took breaks and spent time with nature learning every two hours –
which was a very different than Will’s 12-hour days in the classroom.
Meanwhile, Will continued to help Quakers, and
continued to publish his writing. George Fox asked Will to work on a plan for
New Jersey
using his legal training. Will went to
Holland
again. When he came back to
England
, Quakers being persecuted even more fiercely.
Will worked hard to get a good friend of Quakers elected.
Cheating prevented the win. Penn knew that he had to leave
England
and thought maybe he could convince the king to give him some land in
America
. The King owed Will’s father
16,000 pounds in back salary. When Will met with the king, the king took his hat
off. The king was glad to get the
trouble-making Penn out of
England
and gave Will a piece of land almost as big as
England
. Will had to give two beaver
skins a year in return. The king
asked Penn to name the land. Penn
suggested New Wales which was refused by the King’s secretary who was from
Wales
. Then Penn suggested
Sylvania
, but the King suggested
Pennsylvania
. Penn thought that calling his land
Pennsylvania
was conceited. The king said the
name was in honor of his father and Penn couldn’t persuade him to change the
name. Penn named his first colony
Philadelphia
, which means the city of brotherly love.
Penn sold land to people who wanted to go to
America
. He used that money, plus his own
and paid the Indians who were living in
Pennsylvania
for the land the King “gave” him. Will
sent his cousin William Markham off to
Pennsylvania
right away while Will planned the government and convinced good people to move
to
America
. Will decided they should have free elections and laws with trials and juries.
Will decided every free man who believed in God could vote.
Will signed this charter in 1682 and then Penn then sailed to
America
on the Welcome – his wife and children stayed behind.
Of the 100 people on board, 31 became sick and died.
When Will arrived in
Philadelphia
, he saw Indians in canoes with shaved heads with top-knots of hair with a
quill. A Quaker came over a year
later and found Will having dinner in his home with Indians, speaking to the
Indians in their language. The
Indians called Penn Onas, which meant quill. Taminent, the chief of the Delaware
Indians, would sit with his council in a half moon shape, with the young folks
behind him, and rule by what was right for their people.
Taminent gave Penn a belt woven of wampum.
The design of the wampum showed a man wearing a hat like Penn’s shaking
hands with another hatless man. Penn and Taminent created a treaty to live
together peacefully and sell land. Penn
smoked a peace pipe even though he hated tobacco.
The Indians jumped and ran to celebrate.
Penn won a race which really impressed the Indians.
Will spend many nights in wigwams, eating venison, bear meat, and corn.
The Indians served their food on bark and used mussel shells as spoons.
For the purchase of Philadelphia, some of the things that
Penn gave the Indians included 40 pairs of scissors, 200 small mirrors, 40
combs, a bag full of needles, 20 coats, guns, kettles and axes. The colonists
had building bees to help each other create their homes in
Philadelphia
. The
Philadelphia
Quakers bought game from the Indians because they didn’t want to kill
animals.
Penn paid the cost of the government out of his own
pocket from the money coming from his family farm in
Ireland
. Penn refused to consider the idea
of getting money from the colonists from taxes. While
Philadelphia
was growing, so was the city called
Baltimore
. Lord Baltimore said that
Philadelphia
was really part of his land. Since
there really wasn’t a good map to prove who was right, Penn went back to
England to talk things over about the land and to bring his family back to
Pennsylvania to the home he was building in Pennsbury.
King Charles had died and King James took over.
There were about 1,300 Quakers in prison.
Will wanted the Quakers to be let out of prison and James, who turned out
to be a good man, agreed to let them go. Wll made the mistake of hanging around
London
where things were finally getting ok for Quakers.
Then William of Orange, who married the sister of King James, named Mary,
came over to
England
from
Holland
. William of Orange threw King James
out of power. He called Will Penn a
traitor. William of Orange was a
protestant who didn’t like Quakers. Will
Penn was almost arrested several times.
Penn went into hiding for three years and spend his
time writing to inspire Quakers. The
King’s men took away everything from Penn, so he didn’t have any money.
They also took away Penn’s job as governor of
Pennsylvania
. Pnn’s wife died. His oldest son
died and his other son, Billy, wouldn’t help him.
After a while, Penn, who was 51, married Hannah who was 20 years younger.
Penn agreed that the colonists from
Pennsylvania
would help the king in a colonial war against
France
and he got
Pennsylvania
back. Then Penn went back to
Pennsylvania
with Hannah. It took Penn three
months to sail from
England
to
Pennsylvania
.
Things were pretty different went Penn returned.
There were 700 houses in
Pennsylvania
. The Indians were really happy to
see Penn and brought him things like 40-pound turkeys and special herbs. Penn
worked to make the government better. He
passed laws to outlaw pirates. But
the Quakers treated the pirates fairly – not the way they were treated in
prison. Penn continued work on his
home in Pennsbury, about 25 miles from
Pennsylvania
. Will released the slaves that he
had there. Then there was trouble again when the colonies started to be
successful.
England
wanted to take over the colonies. Penn
went back to
England
again to try to work things out. Penn was in debt because he used his own money
to pay for
Pennsylvania
. Penn was tricked by a guy named
Ford, who got Penn to pay him money that he really didn’t owe. This resulted
in Penn being put in prison as a debtor back in
England
. Penn held off selling
Pennsylvania
to pay off his debts. Penn had a
stroke, lost his memory and died six years later.
The Indians sent Will’s wife Hannah a gift of furs to wear in the
wilderness without Will as her guide.
Penn’s statue still towers over
Philadelphia
on City Hall, the city of brotherly love, and his memory still inspires Quakers
today.
The
Light Within by Elizabeth B.
Quakers
have a concept called "the light within," or "that of God in
everyone." We believe that
everyone not only has a direct connection to God -- hence no requirement for
priests, etc. -- but that it's even closer than that:
each of us has "that of God" within us. (It is this belief that
leads Quakers to taking a stand against war and other violence:
how can you justify mistreating or killing any human being, when each is
a manifestation of God?)
When people say that they will "hold [someone] in the light,"
it means that in a prayerful or meditative or centered state, they will be
rooting for him to find or return to his own center; find the light within; be
cradled in love and wisdom; and be suffused with light. It is a prayer that he
be healed in spirit, that he finds his path. (One can hold people in the light
regardless of the nature of the challenge or difficulty they are facing. For
example, I have held my brother's youngest grandson, a baby facing open heart
surgery, in the light.) When one
holds someone in the light, what one feels is love and compassion.
When you stand in the light and are extending a hand to someone who is
struggling with something, here's what it's like: all of the space within you is
filled with a profound yearning to help her move towards the light so that she
experiences clarity, courage, and serenity about her path forward. There is no
room for being judgmental when you stand in the light; it's as if all the mental
synapses required to be judgmental have been disconnected. You don't measure
somebody against some yardstick and find ways in which she falls short; that's a
concept foreign to standing in the light, a concept with literally no meaning.
You simply cherish her, honor her, respect her, and root for her to gain more
certain footing, to stand in the light. There is love and ruthless compassion,
by which I mean that you are unable to prevaricate or soft-pedal the clarity you
have -- there's no such thing as avoiding saying something that needs to be said
because you know that she has had a hard day or year or life; there are no white
lies in the light. You speak the truth.
If you are the one struggling with something, by definition you're off
balance, unsettled. And there's plenty of room where you are standing for
self-judgment and self-recrimination; for denial and defenses and diversions;
for worrying about what the other guy thinks of you. And if the other guy you're
talking with is standing in the light, it's a bit of a challenge to get a
conversation between the two people to work, because what is foremost in the
mind of each is entirely absent from the mind of the other. It requires a
humility and willingness to be still on the part of the one struggling; a
willingness to allow the power and clarity in; a willingness to feel naked in
front of someone else who at least in that moment seems to see right through you
and see exactly who you are. Astonishingly enough (from a rational perspective),
it feels like the biggest challenge is being willing to be known and loved.
One can get a sense for how unnecessary or unproductive all the mental
chatter on the part of the one struggling is if one considers the analogy of
children learning to walk. If when they fell, they slipped into self-judgment
and anxiety, they'd never learn to walk. But they just keep moving, and the tall
people just cheer them on. The tall people certainly aren't frowning in judgment
when the short people fall; that's an unrecognizable concept. What matters is
that they keep getting up and keep moving. That's what you celebrate.
On
My Honor by Elizabeth B.
My
beliefs and experience did set me at odds -- have always set me at odds -- with
my surroundings. I have not taken
stances simply to be different; I have taken them because they seemed necessary
to me. In the eighth grade, six or
eight of us girls were sent to a group interview with representatives of the
Daughters of the American Revolution. Perhaps
we were competing for a savings bond to be used for college -- something like
that. I had mixed feelings about
participating, but this event was represented as a mandatory school activity.
For the first half of the group interview, I saw that the interviewers
were smiling and nodding more when I was speaking than when the other girls were
speaking. Then they asked each of us
to explain what the phrase, "On my honor," from the beginning of the
Girl Scout Pledge meant to us. Several
other girls spoke first. When it was
my turn, after saying the expected things, I concluded by saying,
"Additionally, though, it implies that the people speaking don't always
tell the truth and aren't always serious about what they say.
If they told the truth all the time, and said only what they meant, there
would be no need to indicate that they really meant the words they were
about to say by prefacing them with the phrase, 'On my honor.'"
The women interviewing us stiffened and frowned at me and started shaking
their heads and frowning at one another. I
was not surprised when I "lost" the competition and the award went to
another girl.
Martin Luther King
Every
year, millions of Americans pay tribute to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. We often forget, however, that King was the
object of derision when he was alive. At key moments in his quest for civil
rights and world peace, the corporate media treated King with hostility. Dr.
King's march for open housing in
Chicago
, when the civil rights movement entered the North, caused a negative,
“you've-gone-too-far” reaction in the Northern press. And Dr. King's stand
on peace and international law, especially his support for the
self-determination of
Third World
peoples, caused an outcry and backlash in the predominantly white press. In his
prophetic anti-war speech at Riverside Church in 1967 (recorded and filmed for
posterity but rarely quoted in today's press) King emphasized four points: 1)
that American militarism would destroy the war on poverty, 2) that American
jingoism breeds violence, despair, and contempt for law within the United
States, 3) the use of people of color to fight against people of color abroad is
a "cruel manipulation of the poor," 4) human rights should be measured
by one yardstick everywhere.
The
Washington Post denounced King's anti-war position, and said King was
"irresponsible." In an editorial entitled "Dr. King's
error," The New York Times chastised King for going beyond the allotted
domain of black leaders -- civil rights. TIME called King's anti-war stand
"demagogic slander...a script for Radio Hanoi." The media responses to
Dr. King's calls for peace were so venomous that King's two recent biographers,
Stephen Oates and David Garrow, devoted whole chapters to the media blitz
against King's internationalism.
Dr.
King may be an icon within the media today, but there is still something
upsetting about the way his birthday is observed. Four words "I have a
dream" are often parroted out of context every January 15th. King,
however, was not a dreamer at least not the teary-eyed, mystic projected in
the media. True, he was a visionary, but he specialized in applied ethics. He
even called himself "a drum major for justice," and his mission, as he
described it, was, "to disturb the comfortable and comfort the
disturbed." In fact, the oft-quoted "I have a dream" speech was
not about far-off visions. In his speech in
Washington
,
D.C.
,
August 28, 1963
, Dr. King confronted the poverty, injustice, and "nightmare
conditions" of American cities. In its totality, the "I have a
dream" speech was about the right of oppressed and poor Americans to cash
their promissory note in our time. It was a call to action.
In 1986, Jesse Jackson wrote an essay on how Americans can protect the
legacy of Dr. King.
Jackson
's essay on the trivialization, distortion, and emasculation of King's memory,
is one of the clearest, most relevant appreciations in print of Dr. King's work.
Jackson
wrote: "We must resist the media's weak and anemic memory of a great man.
To think of Dr. King only as a dreamer is to do injustice to his memory and to
the dream itself. Why is it that so many politicians today want to emphasize
that King was a dreamer? Is it because they want us to believe that his dreams
have become reality, and that therefore, we should celebrate rather than
continue to fight? There is a struggle today to preserve the substance and the
integrity of Dr. King's legacy."
Today, the media often ignores the range and breadth of King's teachings.
His speeches on economic justice, on our potential to end poverty, on the
power of organized mass action, his criticism of the hostile media, and his
opposition to U.S. imperialism (a word he dared to use) are rarely quoted,
much less discussed with understanding. In fact, successors to Dr. King who
raise the same concerns today are again treated with sneers, and their
"ulterior motives" are questioned. A genuine appreciation of Dr. King
requires respect for the totality of his work and an ongoing commitment to
struggle for peace and justice today.
Paul Rockwell, formerly assistant professor of philosophy at
Midwestern
University
, is a writer who lives in
Oakland
,
California
.
Lessons in the Garden, by Elaine
F.
We love to sing “In the Garden” ….”and He talks
with me”…..What is He telling us, there in the garden?
There are so many things, I don’t know where to begin.
But maybe TRUST is a good place to start.
Trust. When you see that
gray, bleak landscape in the winter, you know that it will be green again.
In the spring, it is green, but maybe everything didn’t come back.
You are disappointed, but you replace it, and the new plant has more
vigor and maybe is even a new delight. Is
that how we should trust in God?
HOPE is another. That
one is less obscure. Hope in spring
never fails. It does come.
Maybe there are too many rainy days, or maybe not enough, but it’s
still spring.
What is God telling us as we observe how things grow?
Is the lesson about how to nurture? The
poor marigold won’t bloom under the shade of the crabapple tree.
The lavender wants some sand in its soil and the poppy will rebel if
moved in spring. But when their
needs are met, they will thrive. I
think God is telling us to HELP EACH OTHER to see that needs are met, and to
care for our own needs as well.
Then there is SHARING.
Why would the yellow loosestrife spread so diligently, or the mallow pop
up here and there, if not to share? And
what delight there is in sharing, which leads to….
JOY! Oh, such
joy at the sight of a precious day lily blossom, ruffled edges, circled throat,
sweet fragrance. Joy to be
experienced in this day, this moment! Or
the joy in one’s heart in the pleasure of sharing an exuberant grower that you
enjoy, that you anticipate another will enjoy as well.
And this thought leads me to the question:
Are we here so God could share Himself?
When something is wonderful, we want everyone to see it, so they can
enjoy it too. Is that how God feels?
But there is something else. When
I want to share my garden, when I show another person and I want them to really
experience it as I do, often they don’t. They
are preoccupied with their own thoughts. They
don’t notice the shape of the crabapple tree, or the fragrance of the alyssum,
or the hosta’s green and white. Is
that how we are with God? Do we
NOTICE what He wants us to see? Which
leads to….
TENDING. Watch
for the signs that need attention. Tender
new plants ignored will dry up and shrivel when there is no rain, and older ones
whose roots are crowded will lose their vigor.
Snip the spent bloom. Squash
the slug. Mulch and water.
Is the lesson to remember that the Seed of Christ needs tending too?
And now we come to TROUBLES. It’s
not all pleasure in the garden. There
are the voles, the deer, the groundhogs, and the insects.
Some things are accepted and a shift in direction helps (plant lavender
where the deer eat the flowers). Some
things can be overcome (a cat will keep the voles away).
We also have trouble in our lives. At
times we must accept the things that cause us difficulty.
At other times, we can overcome them with things like prayer, a friend,
faith, spiritual or inspirational reading, some counseling.
And sometimes, as in the garden, we don’t know what to do when there is
a problem. In the garden, we turn to
a friend to ask for help. There is a
Friend waiting for us to ASK FOR HELP in our spirit too.
I was having trouble writing this last paragraph and then my Friend, my
Light, our Holy Spirit, just helped me finish it.
Integrity
and Medical Errors,
by Pat I.
Early Friends considered it critical
to live in a way that reflected their sense of integrity. This meant speaking
truth at all times. It meant trying to find ways to keep scrupulously to an
ethical way of life and to do nothing to hide one’s convictions or status as a
Friend even at great cost. The Quaker value of integrity is manifested by
speaking the truth to others even when it gets one in trouble, and refusing to
take part in deception.
There
has been much discussion in the medical literature about the concept of
disclosure of medical errors or medical malpractice. In order to meet the
definition of malpractice, five elements must be present. The healthcare
provider must have a relationship with the patient or a duty to that patient.
The provider must breach the duty or do something that does not follow the
appropriate standard of care. There has to be harm to the patient. The actions
of the healthcare provider must have caused the harm. Lastly, the injured person
has to be someone the jury would like.
It
is difficult to determine the scope of the problem of medical malpractice. The
Harvard Practice Study was based on medical records of
New York
patients. Of 30,000 records examined, the investigators found that 1 percent of
the patients had experienced errors that caused injury. This study was based on
1980s records and published in the 1990s. Although healthcare providers were
somewhat aware of the results, the press remained uninformed. When the study was
described in an
Institute
of
Medicine
study published in 1999, the public first learned that 44,000-98,000 people die
each year as a result of medical errors. The actual numbers are unknown, as the
Harvard Practice Study relied on examination of only hospital charts. The
investigators did not review physician office records, nursing home records,
clinic records, or detect errors that were not recorded. HealthGrades (www.heatlhgrades.com)
announced in July 2004 that as many as 195,000 people could be dying in US
hospitals because of easily preventable errors. Their data was based on three
years of Medicare data in all 50 states and
Washington
DC
.
Attorneys
who handle medical malpractice receive calls every week from people who want to
know if they have a valid claim. Jonathan Schochor, a
Maryland
attorney, sees up to 3000 potential cases per year and takes on about 80. He
says, “You would have to be a fool to take a case that didn’t have merit.
Claims cost between $75,000 and $150,000 to pay for witnesses, life care
planner, economists and other basic business costs.”
A
person who seeks a plaintiff’s attorney after a bad health outcome may do so
for a number of reasons. Some people think they will get rich quick, unaware
that it takes 3-5 years for a claim to wind its way through the courts, and that
there are difficult criteria that have to be satisfied to establish a valid
claim. Some people want to file a claim because they want to draw attention to a
preventable error so that someone else does not get injured by the same mistake.
Others want answers that they were unable to obtain from the healthcare
providers. In research on this subject, investigators found that a patient’s
decision to sue was influenced not only by the original injury, but also by
insensitive handling and poor communication afterwards.
Less than 15% of explanations that patients received concerning their
injury were considered satisfactory, and 37% stated they would not have sued if
they had received an explanation and an apology. Twenty four percent recognized
a cover-up, and 20% sued because they wanted information they could not get any
other way.
As
Adam Rothenberg Esq. of Levinson Axelrod said, “Certainly in cases in which
there is a clear error, I am amazed how often the patient eventually turns to me
(an attorney) because of the attitude of the doctor following a clear mistake.
The comment I hear all too often is that it was bad enough that there was
a mistake but the doctor's attitude, or lack of CARING (not care) that seemed to
motivate them to seek counsel. One
could say it is a rationalization, but often these people just want to know if
they can get their medical deductible paid for the additional treatment, they do
not even contemplate the pain and suffering awards.
The best advice to doctors is that people who will sue, will sue - so do
not turn your back on your patients. Many
patients will never contemplate an attorney if you just own up to the act, take
responsibility and show you care about the patient.
And if he or she does sue, that is why you have insurance. As a med mal
attorney, give me a good liability case with a lack of caring or strong denial
over logic, and I can make it a GREAT case.”
An
accrediting body for hospitals and some nursing homes, among other healthcare
facilities, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
published a standard in 2001 that required healthcare providers to inform
patients and their families about unanticipated outcomes. An immediate outcry
was heard from risk managers, doctors, and others who were fearful of the
implications of telling patients the truth about errors. There is still
considerable resistance and fear rooted in the perception that admitting
mistakes is not safe. Many healthcare providers believe a number of myths,
including that there is no real
ethical or legal duty to disclose medical errors to patients or that patients
don’t really want to know about errors in their care. In one study, only 60%
of doctors believed that a patient should always be told when a complication
occurred. Doctors are less likely to disclose mistakes that result in serious
injury or death. In some studies,
physicians said that they do not disclose errors for fear of further harming
patients or of losing the patient’s trust. Thirty three percent of physicians
said they would offer incomplete or misleading information to a patient’s
family if a mistake led to a patient’s death. The reasons for dishonesty were
associated with the emotional devastation felt by MD associated with being
involved in an error, pressure to be perfect, anxiety about losing professional
reputation, and fear of litigation. Some doctors do not disclose errors because
of the mistaken belief that if they tell the truth, they increase their chances
of being sued. However, only 1-2% of negligent adverse events led to actual
claims. MDs estimated their risk of being sued is about three times the actual
rate. Healthcare facilities that practice a full disclosure model have seen a
reduction in claims being filed and legal bills. For example, at U of Michigan
Health Systems, encouraging doctors to apologize for mistakes is part of a
broader effort to help doctors feel comfortable in being honest with their
patients. Annual attorneys fees have since dropped from $3 million to $1
million, and malpractice lawsuits dropped from 262 in 2001 to 130 per year.
Lack of full disclosure and confusion regarding the reasons for rising
medical malpractice premiums persist. The nation’s largest medical malpractice
insurer, GE Medical Protective, has admitted that medical malpractice caps on
damage awards and other limitations on recoveries for injured patients will not
lower physicians’ premiums. The insurer admitted it when it filed a document
with the Texas Department of Insurance to explain why it planned to raise
physicians’ premiums 19% six months after
Texas
enacted a $250,000 cap on non-economic compensation to victims of medical
malpractice. The cap was put into place after Medical Protective and other
insurers lobbied for caps.
Non-economic damages (pain and suffering) are a small percentage of total
losses paid, according to Medical Protective. Capping non-economic damages will
show loss savings of 1 percent.
California
’s Proposition 103, in place since 1988, has stopped this year alone a $50
million in rate hikes proposed by the largest medical malpractice insurers.
Malpractice premiums costs are 0.62 percent of the nation’s healthcare
expenditures, according to a recent study of the Department of Health and Human
Services.
What
you can do: contact your senator or congressman protesting Bush’s plans to
limit pain and suffering awards. This limitation will deprive patients of money
and discourage some suits from being filed. The deterrent value of lawsuits in
keeping healthcare safer will be lost.
For
more information, see www.citizen.org and www.leapfroggroup.org.
This article was based on several sources of information, including first hand
experience. Pat I. owns a medical legal support business that provides expert
witnesses to attorneys. She has been an expert witness since 1987.
Quotes
When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the
day a happy one for a fellow creature.
Sydney Smith, England
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh;
but the earth abideth for ever.
Ecclesiastes 1:4
We are who we are as much because of our gaps and failures
as because of our strengths.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Ireland
Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow.
The same father who cares for you today
will take care of you tomorrow and every day.
He will shield you from suffering or
He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace, then, do not be anxious.
He is with you and in you.
St. Francis of
Assisi
(c. 1181-1226)
Italy
We have two ears and only one tongue in order that we may
hear more and speak less.
Diogenes (412-323 BC)
Quotes
by Martin Luther King
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and
eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his
objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as
beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
Hatred
paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
Love
is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
