Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Walmartians and Pessimism


You only have to spend a little time at a public hospital to realise just how good you've got it. How attractive, slim and intelligent you are compared to the general population - or at least the population that spends time at a public hospital. If you've seen any of the Walmartian pics that get frequently sent to my in-box you'll know what I mean.

One of the other patients having hand surgery on Monday was one that had just a few functional synapses in his head. He'd managed to break his hand fighting (a real person, not a toilet door like Josh) They'd put his hand in a cast until his surgery but because it was a very temporary cast they only used the old-fashioned plaster of paris type. These casts can get a little hot, apparently and this boy had a brain-wave when his hand got too warm over the weekend. He plunged his plaster-of-paris-covered hand into a slushy. Ten points for ingenuity but a plastic bag over the hand may have stopped the cast from being ruined.

What I couldn't believe was the number of OBESE (not just cuddly - I'm talking about lumbering, sweaty and panting-just-walking-up-the-corridor obese) nurses and doctors that I saw. They do realise that being overweight is a main contributor to a whole host of diseases, don't they?

And the smokers!!! The hospital staff in uniform out the front having a long drag on their fags (a fag is a local term for a cigarette and I just realised that the expression I used could be really misinterpreted by the more smutty-minded of my readers) Again a major contributor of disease.

Sam recently read a study which said that the majority of the population will think of unpleasant possibilities in an optimistic light. That is - if you are a smoker and have the disease-potential of your habit pointed out to you, you will choose to believe that it won't happen to you. I had always believed optimism was a good trait but I'm starting to think that the world needs a lot more pessimists.

7 comments:

  1. I despise the smoking door and walking through the haze.

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  2. We are so lucky that smoking in public is all but banned here - no smoking allowed in any buildings (restaurants, bars, etc.) or even within 10 feet of them.

    Shocking to look around sometimes...

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  3. Not much smoking publicly here anymore either thank goodness!

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  4. I am soooo relived I am not one of your smutty-minded readers, phewwww!

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  5. All the smokers I know think that "it won't happen" to them or if it will happen it depends by the air pollution!
    You are right, we need more pessimism.

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  6. Oh yes the dreaded smoking door....awful! Every Disney park I've ever been to has been filled with obese, panting types as well. Crazy when they're in the medical profession.

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  7. Yes, more pessimists (and their cousins, the worry warts) will make the world much better!

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