29/10/2020
This is Rachel.
Rachel firmly believes that people should take responsibility for their own decisions and face up to the consequences. Other people, that is.
Rachel got an expensive new pup, Ziggy. She decided not to insure Ziggy because her last dog hadn't got poorly, and she thought this would be a reasonable guide to future investments. As the last house she lived in didn't burn down, she presumably also decided that House Insurance is a waste of money too, but that's another story.
Rachel's had a few misfortunes with Ziggy - firstly she ran her over in her Volvo, but vets were able to see her as an emergency, stabilise her, image and diagnose a fractured pelvis, relieve Ziggy's pain and establish that the injuries would get better with rest and physiotherapy, rather than need expensive surgery. Ziggy made a full recovery.
Then, Ziggy ate some peach stones. One got stuck in her intestine, causing a life threatening blockage. Her vets were able to operate before Ziggy's bowel ruptured, and so an agonising death from peritonitis was avoided. Thats bowel surgery: it's tricky, a highly skilled surgery technique. Ziggy made a full recovery then too.
After that, the pup found a corn husk and ate it; a life threatening obstruction again, bowel surgery successful once more as again, her vets saved her life and Ziggy recovered once more.
You might well think Rachel, and Ziggy, have had excellent care and service from their vets.
Rachel does some writing for a living, and lots of people read her articles.
Rachel had an opportunity to publicly thank the vets, vet nurses and vet practice staff who had treated her beloved pet so successfully each time. Rachel had an opportunity to warn the general public of the mishaps that might befall their pets. Rachel even had an opportunity to sensibly advise her readers to take out pet insurance, having experienced the consequences of her own actions not to do so.
Instead, Rachel chose to rage type an anger splatter article because she had to pay for her pet's treatment herself. She aimed her bile at a veterinary profession full of people who care desperately about their patients and their clients; people who've studied extensively to be able to perform highly skilled medical and surgical procedures with optimum outcomes; people who are often trapped in the position of caring for sick animals when owners haven't made provision for their healthcare; and a profession of people who all to frequently (as is very well documented) struggle at a cost to their own financial and personal wellbeing. A profession of people whose determination to do the best for their patients often means they simply give more than they have.
Instead of taking responsibility for her own decisions, and appreciating the wonderful service she and her pet had received, Rachel chose to be a figurehead and banner-waver for those who don't appreciate their vets, those who find fault to complain, those who strike yet one more small hammer blow complaint on the strong people of our profession, and sometimes that is the hammer blow that causes their metal to fatigue, their iron to crack, that important bridge to fall, and their families, friends and colleagues to feel the very greatest loss.
We know people like that, in these extra difficult times feeling those hammer blows so hard, right now, and in some cases, very sadly, the tense is different - we knew people like that, and they fell.
Don't be like Rachel. Your words may 'vent', give you an outlet, even make you feel better. But the more people who hear, or read them, the more impact they have; and every one of those impacts is another, another, and yet another hammer tap. And people get broken.
So please... just don't be like Rachel.
