Okay, I'm still on a high from meeting our amazing Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin yesterday! (I hope she doesn't mind that I am posting this picture.) I want to share a story she told us yesterday -you know how I always say stories are more powerful than statistics, right? Here it is:
A girl was out jogging along the beach. She saw an old man meticulously walking along, bending over and picking up starfish stranded from the tide, and tossing them back into the ocean. He was still there, plugging along, on her return. She could stand it no more, and asked him, "Why bother picking up these starfish? Look a the hundreds of them along the beach! The sun is out, the tide has receded, and they are all going to dry up and die." The wise old man looked at her, then deliberately bent down and picked up the next starfish. Holding it gently in his hand, he turned to the jogger and replied "because it matters to THIS one" and returned it to the sea.
Why bother educating our patients to eat more fruits and veggies when fast food heart-attack-on-a-plate is everywhere? Why take the time to educate about the real risks of physical intimacy and the awkward topic of STDs? Because ONE AT A TIME, it makes a WHOLE WORLD of difference, and together, we will turn the tide!
BOTTOM LINE: Let's ALL follow America's Doctor's advice, and MAKE A DIFFERENCE for at least ONE person today (even if that one person is YOU!)!
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