My blog is so boring....

I haven't done anything on here in ages, but who cares. I am currently in California and really disliking it. Too many people and traffic and noise and rushing. I miss the quiet simplicity of Montana. I hear so many helicopters and planes and sirens around the house it's like a war zone, sans the bombs and guns and death.

Finals

Some haiku I thought up when I was trying to sleep:
The crossroads of life
Three widely divergent paths
Waiting to be claimed.

It's finals week and everyone is a bit stressed and not quite as...friendly as they normally are. Really everyone's just trying to keep from bashing their head against the wall. Stupid finals. In about 4 days Christmas break will begin and the blood-sucking monkey on my back will curl up and die...bwahahaha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75qqIe9_WTg
NY Times video about the gangs in Pine Ridge

I fought death and lost

So my mom, me, and Emma were taking my grandpa to Idaho Falls to the airport today. We get to just outside Tetonia and see a bunch of cars backed up and people waving oncoming cars to a stop. We look ahead and see a man lying on the road with a few people standing over him. My grandpa pulls the car close and me and my mom run over and after letting people know we were EMTs start in on the good stuff. A lady who lived nearby came over and said she was a nurse. There was also a man there who said he was a doctor, but oh my goodness the poor man didn't know what he was doing. Anyways, apparently the man was testing out a bicycle someone was selling and pulled in front of a RV and they hit him. The driver of the RV was sitting there looking like he wanted to cry, his wife was on the phone with their insurance. My mom gets on the phone and starts talking to the ambulance to let them know what they were coming to. The nurse couldn't get a radial pulse so I try, but his arms were cold and I could barely feel anything, so while the nurse goes over to check the driver of the RV, I check for a pulse in the armpit and get a strong one and clock his pulse at 80bpm and his respiration at 32. Then I check the rest of his body. His legs were broken, his left knee cap dislocated. He had a head laceration that was bleeding and swelling. Blood coming out of the mouth (but no the nose or the ear I could see) but his breathing was deep and labored and his mouth full of spittle and blood. I check his chest and his ribs were pretty much gone. Unresponsive to pain and verbal stimulus and his eyes were constricted and fixed. The doctor on scene kept saying that his breathing was good and that he would be okay, but when I was telling my mom what I was finding so she could report to the ambulance, he'd go behind me and say things like, oh yeah, the legs are broken. Duh! I was also thinking about the other head injury I've seen. The man was saying "Uh-huh" and twiddling his fingers and breathing, but he was so far gone there was no way they could have saved him. This man looked and acted the same way. I knew he wasn't going to make it. Anyways, the fire boys get there with their jump kits and two seconds later the EMTs arrive so they get an adjunt in the mouth and a bag going and get him on the stretcher and headed towards the hospital in no time. There was one EMT who was looking so frazzled she was trying not to cry. Honestly, it was one of the better calls I've seen, so I can't blame her for being freaked. The nurse had talked to everyone in the RV to make sure they weren't shocky or anything and then she tells us where her bathroom is because we had no gloves and blood on our hands. As an EMT it was one of those calls that become a battle story and you pat yourself on the back for handling things like you did. I feel terrible for the people in the RV though. And poor Emma was in the car right next to it watching everything. She said she was okay, but she still looked a little freaked for a while.

They should warn you that when you are trying to get ready to go through the temple it makes you weepy. I keep feeling like I want to cry...

Deep Question

Should patients with a mental health disorder that makes them a threat to society be forced to take their medications? Should patients with a mental health disorder that are not threats to society at the moment but may become a threat in the future be forced to take their medications as sort of a preemptive strike? Or should a patient's right to refuse medical treatment supercede any real or potential threats to the public?

I was waiting in line at the grocery store the other day and in the line next to me was a pretty hispanic lady with a tiny, beautiful baby boy. Her checker looked at the woman and said, "You don't understand English, do you?" Then she gives me this look full of racial undertones. It reminded me of the mid-1800's when starving Irish immigrants flooded the streets of America. In New York City, signs were put up saying "No Irish Need Apply". A political party formed with the goal of getting rid of foreingers. Nowadays people say things like "This is America, speak English." Um, exactly, it's America, a country built on the backs of immigrants. It's all one big cycle. A certain country has a flood of emmigrants that make their way to America and the people who are already here feel threatened and turn into racist bigots. Yes, it's annoying when you have items whose labels are in Spanish instead of English. Yes, it's frustrating when the language barrier pops up and you feel like a fly bashing it's head against a window. But all the annoyance and frustration certainly shows you what kind of a person you are. Do you look at your changing world and try your best to change with it? Or do you turn up your nose and blame your uncomfortable ignorance on the subjects of your ignorance?
Here's another deep question: if you witness a crime or hear someone discussing a crime, should you be legally required to report what you know? Should you be legally required to get involved?