very, very, very, very religious.

the central office on my floor at the hospital is filled with nurses running in and out, receptionist-like people who answer phones and deliver messages to nurses and me and my fellow co-workers, and a few desks. there today, before i was about to leave for home, one of the business associates (receptionist) began to tell me of another fellow business associate she used to work with on another floor. we were talking about how when people page people in hospitals over head, any person, no matter the sex, puts on a soothing, rhythmic voice that has an odd, but familiar hospital ring to it. do you know what i mean? perhaps if you're not in hospitals much, you don't, but it's the way they say, "Dr. O'Brien, you have a phone call on 67143, Dr. O'Brien...67143 (voice goes up at the end usuallY)." Anyways, she was telling me about this one woman she used to work with who was "very very religious." She looked at me and thought i didn't understand so she elaborated. "no, i mean, really really really religious---like close to being a nun." after she said this, i began to laugh quite uncontrollably b/c more so of how she was describing this woman. i first thought this was horrible, for someone to be known as a "really really really religious person" by all in the hospital and to be feared by many b/c of it. i thought that maybe, i'd like to be known as that, but not in the way that this woman was describing this woman as being. that kind of 'very very relgious' i didn't think i was ready for. so anyways, she was saying how this really religious woman for some odd reason always changed her voice so much when she would do overhead pages that everyone working usually stood in shock when she came on to speak b/c her voice resembled that of a "hooker." now, i didn't ask this woman how she knew what a hooker who works at a hospital sounded like, but it was amusing to hear her describing the scene. "she would page some nurse to the desk and the nurse would come and say, 'who said that?' looking disgusted and shocked." maybe mrs. business associate/wannabe nun-who-sounds-like-a-hooker wanted to add a little spice to her life...or maybe, she just didn't know she was sounding the way she was. i asked the woman telling the story if anyone ever said anything to her, but she said "no one had the heart to---she was just very religious and everyone felt bad and embarrassed for her." what an odd, odd world we live in. i don't understand this at all.

one more thing at the hospital that caught my ear today...a woman (60+) arguing with her father the patient (80ish) about why George W. Bush was a crummy president or why he wasn't. every time i walked by their room---due to the father's hard of hearing---there were screams from the daughter (not mad, just trying to communicate loud enough for the father to hear..however, anyone else thought there was a political crossfire debate going on in room 761, bed 1). "I'M NOT VOTING FOR KERRY B/C HE SUPPORTS ABORTION AND I COULD NEVER VOTE FOR A PRESIDENT WHO THINKS THAT IS FINE."---"But Bush is an idiot and a fool! You'd rather vote for someone who's incompetent? I mean, look at the war he's dragged us in?"---"I THINK IT'S VERY COURAGEOUS OF HIM TO GO TO WAR WITHOUT MUCH SUPPORT FROM OTHER COUNTRIES...THAT SHOWS HE'S GOT REAL COURAGE...I MEAN, HOW MANY OTHER PRESIDENTS WOULD DO THAT?" ---"No other president in history has done that...that's not courage, that's stupid!"---"I THINK IT TAKES A LOT OF GUTS TO DO THAT! MOST PEOPLE WOULDN'T STAND FIRM TO WHAT THEY BELIEVE BUT HE IS"---

anyways, this went on back and forth for about 30 minutes, with the daughters' political beliefs being billboarded via sound waves all over our floor, while her old, near-deaf father talked quietly...seeming very upset at it all. after hearing this, i kind of found myself seeing both of their viewpoints and seeing them both as somewhat legitimate. i mean, i never thought of Bush taking us into war as being gutsy, but i guess you could see it that way. then again, i could see why people think he's a fool....being the only president in history to go against the U.N. and all. anyways, i guess it's a matter of seeing and when it comes to this and so many other things, people will see want they want to see. it's hard to get people to see what they don't want to see. if you're so adament about not seeing, having someone beside you who's screaming in your ear what you're missing or what you don't want to see is probably going to do little good. it was interesting though, this old daughter and her father, who've lived through WWII and both seen many many things when it comes to politics and war and presidents. i found myself pausing every time i passed, for a few minutes sometimes, just to hear what their thoughts on Bush and Kerry and the War were. It was entertaining and enlightening, and it made another normal tuesday at borgess a tiny bit more exciting.