Being Sensitive

The other day, I was at the hospital with my dad who was ill. As we sat there and waited for our turn, my dad was browsing through the newspaper. Left with nothing to do and no one to talk to, I decided that I could browse the Net for a while, on my mobile. And then, a thought struck me - why should I "do" something all the time? Why cant I just sit? I looked around and saw that most of them who were also waiting and who had nothing to "do" were also "doing something."
 Some had their eyes glued to the T.V. Some were chatting about God knows what. Some (like me) were fiddling with the mobile. Some others were reading; some were dozing and so on. So I checked myself and decided that I would do nothing - I would just look around, and soak in the atmosphere.

It was around 11.00 A.M and there was a lot of hustle-bustle in the OPD of the hospital. People of all shapes and sizes were walking in, out and about. Some pregnant ladies had come in for a routine check-up; some others had come with their babies for a dose of vaccine; some old people who looked really ill waited for their name to be called. As I watched all this, my gaze moved over to the elevator.

The hospital elevator is a fairly big one - big enough to accomodate a stretcher and a few people. Waiting for the elevator, were two nurses ready to push along a stretcher. On the stretcher was a man, half conscious, with tubes attached all over including an oxygen mask. Now these two nurses were chattering and giggling among themselves with absolutely no regard for this sick man on the stretcher. For them, this person was just another "patient" - a "body" that needs "repair". Thats it. Nothing more.

No room for feelings or emotions here; what to speak of regard? The point is, that one need not get emotional about every sick person in the hospital and fuss over him or her; but isn't there a Code of Conduct in place? How can two nurses just talk and giggle when the patient they are moving is in pain? How can one become so insensible? Do the hospital staff get "desensitized" by seeing sick people day in and day out that they just think of them as "bodies for repair"? Even if that is so, how can they blatantly display their insensitivity?

I think more important than all knowledge, is to teach the hospital staff not to be insensitive. They must know that we are all "human" and regard us that way, no matter what state we may be in. In all aspects of life, we need to be sensitive to others. When we stand in a queue, we respect the ones ahead of us as they have come in line before us. If we cut the line, we show no regard for others.  When we hold an opinion, it doesn't mean it is the only right thing in this world. If we all knew and respected this, there would be no prejudice or violence in this world in the name of race, religion etc. So then, let us be sensitive to others.