Chocolate makes me sick!
Imagine the disgrace of receiving filthy dark chocolate as you lie on a hospital bed
Imagine how painful it is to be hurt physically and still forced to hurt emotionally by eating food that disgusts you
All I’m asking for is vanilla milk
White and tender, full of life and blessings
Dark chocolate makes me sick, at least some white chocolate can go well down my throat
Being sick is like being in a dark room with not even a tiny bit of light
The only way to live in there is by shining light
Instead I’m given more darkness, more pain and less hope
Light has never been black, it’s always white
I won’t let the darkness come close to me…
I’d rather die in my pain than allowing an unsophisticated demon like image to try and repair my parts
What if it kills me
I don’t trust such service
Nurse! Get me some milk
Chocolate makes me sick.
By Thabiso Monyela.
Thabiso Monyela 3611383
Ethics assignment
17 September 2018
This poem is an epitome of racial prejudice in health care. It shows one of my experiences at the hospital whereby I was discriminated against and seen as “not good enough” due to the mere fact that I am black. It is written from a white patient’s perspective. The patient is clearly racist and in the poem, he explains how disgusting he finds black people and how being given a black physiotherapist has added onto his burden. He explains that his health will not be properly taken care of in the hands of a black man. This shows the lack of trust this patient had towards me. The colour of my skin makes it seem as if I am not educated or skilled enough to treat him. He further explains that he would rather die than to be treated by me. Often as black people, we are seen as unworthy and unsuitable to perform our duties at the workplace. The same black man that is deemed inadequate is the very same black man who received the same quality of education as a white man. The colour of his skin puts him at the bottom regardless of how educated and skilled he may be.
When evaluating the incident that occurred, I have realised a few things regarding my clinical practice as a physiotherapist. Very often, we meet people with different belief systems . Certain people will say condescending remarks about me, that however does not mean that I have to treat them any less. This experience has made me grow a thicker skin. Having different views or opinions with a patient does not mean that they deserve less care. I have learnt to be more empathetic in a clinical setting. I have learnt that people’s social environments play a big role in how they view life.
Your hereditary traits affect your functioning within your environment, and your environment affects the development and expression of your inherited traits. This can be further explained in terms of family, school and social context, such that how you are raised plays a role in your perspective on life. In my clinical experience, I have learnt to spare people judgement before understanding their holistic context.
3 thoughts on “Chocolate makes me sick!”
Dear Monyela
Quite an interesting reflection, thank you for bring it up. it is a very popular challenge for both parties that needs to be addressed.
your piece is hard to link, you did not link the poem and the reflection as much hence it is very difficult for one to link it together. please do link it, include the poem more in the reflection.
there is minimal empathy on the reflection as well. it is more about how you felt and how it affects you in a clinical setting rather than how the patient self. you need to take into consideration the state in which the patient is in, could be that they have issues not necessarily because they are racist and they see no good in a black man (Although it may be ). so, i am sure you can look at that as well.
and of course do not forget to add your references.
overall your reflection is good and very interesting. well done!
Thabiso:
Content: Excellent, it is aligned with class discussion and deals with ethics regarding racism and empathy in clinical practice.
Argument: Satisfactory, you have made valid claims. you just need more evidence to support these claims. Looking at the comment which has already been posted earlier, someone else from the outside cannot really understand what you mean, and the only reason that its easy for me to understand what you mean is because I know you personally and shared blocks with you, so just take this into consideration. also, reading this with in text references would have been easier to link the evidence to your writing piece. much improvement can be done here.
References: Poor, i know you said references still to be added,, please dont forget !!!! 🙂
Writing: Satisfactory, in your poem, in the 3rd verse, 5th line, you can add a question mark. just double check o your punctuation marks. good grammar. no spelling mistakes identified, text flows logically some more content and depth explaining racism empathy can be added regarding your topic.
i really enjoyed reading the poem. this piece was well written. well done. very interesting, creative and relatable.
Add more depth and evidence to your write up to do the poem justice
NB!!!!!!! dont forget your references :)))
correction: content satisfactory. and last sentence under the heading writing belongs at content