uncertainty

12May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, LGBTQ

Lack Of Training – Doctors Treating Trans Youth Grapple With Uncertainty

Last month, the Arkansas Senate passed legislation prohibiting medical providers from offering gender-affirming hormones or surgeries to trans youth. If you were to read the bill – titled the Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act – you might think the law was protecting children from physicians like Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who experimented on Jewish people. “It is of grave concern to the General Assembly,” the text reads, that trans youth are being allowed “to be subjects of irreversible and drastic” treatments “despite the lack of studies showing that the benefits of such extreme interventions outweigh the risks.” This language is at odds with the growing evidence that blocking people from accessing gender-affirming care creates increased risks for social isolation, suicide ...

Needed Now More Than Ever – John Keats’ Concept Of ‘Negative Capability’ – Or Sitting In Uncertainty

When John Keats died 200 years ago, on Feb. 23, 1821, he was just 25 years old. Despite his short life, he’s still considered one of the finest poets in the English language. Yet in addition to masterpieces such as “Ode to a Nightingale” and “To Autumn,” Keats’ legacy includes a remarkable concept: what he called “negative capability.” The idea – which centers on suspending judgment about something in order to learn more about it – remains as vital today as when he first wrote about it. Keats lost most of his family members to an infectious disease, tuberculosis, that would take his own life. In the same way the COVID-19 pandemic turned the worlds of many people upside down, the poet had developed a deep sense of life’s uncertainties. Keats was born in London in 1795. His father died i...

To be a great innovator, learn to embrace and thrive in uncertainty

Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, was America’s first female self-made millionaire. She pioneered a line of hair care and beauty products for people of color early in the 20th century, and the recent Netflix series “Self Made” details the story of this talented innovator and the challenges she overcame on the way to her success. To accomplish her goals, she had to face overwhelming uncertainties. How would she finance her business? Would her partnerships fail? Would her products sell? Would ruthless competition and racism get in her way? Madame Walker’s future was far from certain when she began her journey, but that did not dissuade her. Madam Walker was willing and able to face uncertain situations as she grew her business. The Smithsonian via Wikimedia Commons It is tempting to ...