Kidneys and Courage

My soon-to-be-former career is in dialysis. That's an excellent word describing treatment for kidney failure. Today I got a wrist band for the Kidney Foundations live2share campaign. (I don't know why the site is Albertan. Nothing shows on the BC site, but they are available here.) Given time and motivation, there might be a future blog entry on end-of-life and brain-death issues & ethics. But for now let's focus on the living.

The blogger at Such Small Hands is on Dialysis now. She gives you an insight into the world of kidney failure and dialysis from the patient's perspective from time to time. But her blogging is much wider than that.

The people I see almost every day are dealing with kidney failure, one way or another. I think the wrong approach is to feel sorry for people just because of the cruel blows that fate (if you want to describe God's mysterious providence that way) delivers to them. Giving them respect that encourages them to face life and its unfair challenges is what is called for. And doing that in the sure knowledge that you would probably do a lot worse in coping than they. Mind you, I find humour (note the consciously British spelling there, American cousins) the method of choice; not that it always works or is appropriate. But sometimes bringing a smile to someone's face is a very human thing to do.

So, if you're in Canada, think about buying a wristband. And, wherever you are, pray for the courage to face life's challenges, unfair or not.