This is one of my favorite pictures.

This is a pre-Mother’s Day shout out to my mother. I think my mother and her sisters are the embodiment of “Loving kindness.”  My mother called for her usual Saturday check-in and recount of all the family news.  She updated me on my uncle’s fight with lung cancer and her new job.  At age 79, she has decided to work 5 hours a day.  She said she just wants to get out of the house. She has been caring for people since I was born.  She was the primary caregiver and health proxy for my grandparents, church members and my late stepfather.  We always laugh and end the call but this time, the conversation shifted to the embattled ex-governor of Alabama.  Of course, we all should know about the scandal and his resignation.  Alabama has a long history of governors who have not shown love and kindness for African Americans.  So, to my surprise, she said “Have you heard about our governor? Don’t you feel sorry for him?”  Well, my initial response was to smile and remain silent.  I wanted to hear what she had to say.  And once again, “loving kindness “and “judge not lest you be judged” was on full display.

She said” I feel so sorry for him. He has lost everything.  I think he meant well.”   I smiled and listened.

“His wife left him and his children are refusing to talk to him. He moved out of the Governor’s Mansion today.  There were only two men and a pick-up truck helping him.”  If anyone else had said this, I would have been laughing out loud. Yet, I listened to my mother and smiled.  As I heard these remarks, I flashed back to all the hate that has defined the political seen in Alabama.  Yet, at 79, that is not what she is focusing on.  She always encouraged us to be decent, loving and respectful.  My grandmother always said ‘if you can’t find anything good to say then just keep quiet.” I found myself reflecting on this and just not saying anything but “I guess you are right.”

I had the honor of participating in a five-series program sponsored by my hospital. We had two hospital chaplains who are Buddhist monks lead us in resiliency and transformation sessions.  The sessions focused on contemplative medicine through refection and meditation. I do find myself really listening to my patients, residents, friends and family members better.  It is caused being present. In his TED talk Julian Treasure talked about “conscious listening”.  You can use this acronym to help you listen and communicate better. RASA stands for “Receive,” which means pay attention to the person; “Appreciate,” making little noises like “hmm,” “oh,” “OK”; “Summarize” — the word “so” is very important in communication; and “Ask,” ask questions afterwards. So, I use this as much as possible to be a better listener.

So, I love my mother because she always reminds me to be a better person by displaying all the attributes I need to accomplish this. I even found myself feeling sympathy and empathy realizing that we all can make mistakes and one day will need someone to show us “loving kindness” and forgiveness

I am an avid watcher of Public TV. My senior year in HS, my English teacher was such a brilliant man.  We were reading Shakespeare’s plays.  One assignment was King Lear.  I so enjoyed the play but it came to life for me when the PBS Great Performances series aired the play with James Earl Jones as King Lear, Ellen Holly as Reagan, Rosalind Cash as Goneril and as Cordelia.  It was my first to experience an all-Black cast performing Shakespeare.  I was mesmerized.  PBS has provided many memorable experiences for me such as Dance in America: Martha Graham Dance Company, Brideshead Revisited, and The Six Wives of Henry VIII.   I watched Upstairs, Downstairs and even Poldark I. Who could forget How Green Was My Valley and Madame Bovary?

Public TV has always been part of my life. I watched those early cooking shows with Julia Childs.  What is there for a girl growing up in the South who loved to read books to do?  I was a Premed major in college but after my sophomore year, I changed my major and minored in English.  I took a course in Shakespeare, English Romanticism, Chaucer and Southern Literature.  I was rejuvenated by writing and just reading.  I needed the science to get into medical school but I needed the Arts to make me a better doctor.  The Arts fed my soul and helped me become more altruistic and empathetic.  PBS allowed me to see performances that I never would have had the opportunity to experience because we did not have the money.  In college, I saw plays and live performances that were once in a life-time.  I saw the Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, and Paul Taylor Dance Companies.  The concerts included Roberta Flack and Randy Crawford.

My life was enriched by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and I fear that if the funds are cut, other children will be deprived of their opportunity to have their lives enriched. In elementary school, we had trips to the Symphony and arts programs. I spent many hours at the Public Library during the summer.  The Library was our unofficial babysitter. The NEA was created by the US Congress in 1965. Roger L. Stevens was the first Chairperson appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson.  The National Endowment for the Humanities provides grants for high-quality humanities projects to cultural institutions such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars. It was created in 1965 under the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities, which included the National Endowment for the Arts.  The programs I benefitted from in college were funded by the NEH.

I will continue to support PBS every opportunity I get. We buy our favorite shows and give during the Annual Fund drives.  I can’t imagine my life without it.  From Foyle’s War to Downton Abbey, I have been educated and entertained.  What would I do without all those Ken Burns’ documentaries and Henry Louis Gates?  Oh my, how could I live without Nature? After a long day of seeing patients, I get a great laugh from Father Brown and Death in Paradise.

We don’t need more warships, aircraft or a wall on the border. We need the arts to allow us to dream and enrich our lives.  A little girl from the South can go to college, medical school and finish her medical training while maintaining her love of the arts because with the remote in her hand and right in her living room on her TV set, she could see a world that she never would have had the time or money to see.  That is what we may lose if these funds are cut.