The Occasional Perspective - 1/27/25
Opinions and Reflections
A Slightly Different Fickenscher Files This Week – As you will learn through this week’s blog, I’ve been on holiday in New Zealand for the last 3 ½ weeks. It’s one of those bucket list experiences. First, it’s an absolutely wonderful country and, unfortunately, they are not letting a lot of retired Americans move there 😊(Just kidding! I really love Maine). Long story short, I’ve been a bit on hiatus in keeping up with the “health care” news. So, while I still am offering up my latest thoughts on the health care front, please note that there is a heavy lean toward some learnings while I was in New Zealand. And, I’m under personal contract to propose to all my friends, neighbors and readers that New Zealand should definitely be placed high on the bucket list if you have the resources to allocate toward such a venture. It’s worth it! As such an experience, the country is absolutely beautiful, and the people are exceptionally nice. We could all learn a bit about hospitality through an experience in this wonderfully beautiful country. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to visit.
A Moment Of Thought – In addition to several multi-mile hikes up, down, and along the shoreline mountains, I also splurged and had a massage while visiting Abel Tashman National Park. Flo – the massage therapist – provided an outstanding experience for my well-worn body with an achy back, arms, and legs after a series of hikes. At the end of the experience, she engaged in a Chakras experience. Chakras are a part of some religions and also an “alternative” health proactively focused on the energy centers in the body and is derived from the Sanskrit word "chakra" meaning "wheel" or "cycle". The basic notion is that certain energy points in the body are thought to be part of the spinning wheels of energy or life forces. The Chakras correspond to bundles of nerves, major organs, and areas of the body that affect our emotions and physical well-being. Balance of these various forces is an important element for maintaining a focus in life and connection to the world in which we live. Seven chakras run along the base of the spine to the head. At the end of the massage, Flo engaged in a very quiet chant and placed seashells along my head, chest, and abdomen.
While I’m a bit skeptical about the Chakras concept or its ability to alter my overall balance – for me, it was striking that the experience occurred on the same day as Jimmy Carter’s funeral. So, why do the two separate and distinct events come together in my mind? It relates to Carter’s focus on helping mankind and the need for all of us to have balance with ourselves and between the affiliated nations of the world to maintain the stability of our relationship with one another for the peoples of the world. While Carter – like all American Presidents – had his pluses and minuses, he stood for making life better for “the people.”
At the end of the day, when all is said and done, helping our fellow man is one of the most important contributions we can make in the world. This is, in fact, one of the core messages that serve as the foundation for the religions of virtually all faiths. It’s also the guiding force of why I pursued a career in medicine – to “make health care better.” While like all of those who pursue leadership roles, I had failures and successes, it was my daily mantra that kept me focused. And, now the times are calling for all of us to maintain our focus. Think about it for a moment. What is your personal mantra? Consider the thought. We are one together in this world…
No Hedging On Hegseth – While I’ve been out-of-country for the last three weeks, I tried to detach myself from the daily news related to the transition in our federal government. While there are a number of major policy issues on the health care front that will no doubt be percolating forward – it was not those issues that raised my ire! My specific concern relates to the qualifications of Pete Hegseth to serve as the Secretary of Defense for the entirety of the American military machine. I won’t review the issues that have been raised at his U.S. Senate hearings. There is plenty of specific information on the results of those hearings available across the majority of the national media. However, I will say that the lack of response by the proposed Secretary to direct questions along with the specific and documented allegations PLUS the absolute, total lack of response by the Republican Senators is appalling at best! If these same allegations came to light for a Democrat candidate, there would thunder – if not howling – in the halls of Congress from my Republican friends and colleagues. Where did this servility come from? Have we only become a nation of groveling, power-hunger representatives rather than keepers of the beacons of liberty? Ai Yi Yi – what have we come to? If similar accusations are made in the future about Democrat candidates I will raise the alarm again as well. Please note my intentions for future reference.
