Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Recent Posts

About

Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Interruption & Presence

Why do we keep bypassing each other always on the way to something or someone more important?  – Henri Nouwen

Cell_phone
   I’m seated in conversation with a friend. To me, the conversation is important. Suddenly, my friend’s cell phone rings. Without hesitation, he draws the phone from his side like a gunslinger quick-drawing his pistol. I’m left sitting there while he talks on the phone for five minutes.
   At this stage in our lives, in our particular society, it is very likely you’ve had this happen many times. Perhaps, you’ve even been the one answering the phone…

   Somehow, we’ve developed the idea that the person on the phone is more important than the person in front of us. Have you ever had the feeling that you could communicate with someone better if you left them sitting there, slipped away, and called them on their cell phone?
   Text messaging has merely compounded the problem. All cell phones are equipped with voice mail. Why can’t the caller be sent there until the receiver of the call is done with their present conversation?
   But even to express this concern may make me sound like a complainer. We’re all vulnerable to interruptions in this noisy world. Sometimes, the interruptions are a gift. The busy executive on his or her way to a meeting needs to provide time to be interrupted along the way by whomever may need their time and attention. Indeed, the person who interrupts their journey in the manner of the Good Samaritan is listening to the voice of their best angel.
   We may only hope that angels may yet save us from the all-to-frequent interruption of the unnecessary phone call jangling its way into our lives.

-Erie Chapman

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3 responses to “Interruption & Presence”

  1. Karen York Avatar
    Karen York

    I have been in that situation many times and feel slighted due to the interruption of a phone call. There seems to be an unwritten expectation that you answer your phone right away and disregard your current circumstances just to answer. I don’t answer the phone if I’m in meditation, or have someone in my office. However I often hear from my colleagues later that they tried to call me but I didn’t answer. It is my choice to set my own boundaries around when I answer the phone and when I don’t. My hope would be that we all will graciously be present to the people right in front of us.

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  2. Tom Knowles-Bagwell Avatar
    Tom Knowles-Bagwell

    Oh, yes, Erie, I have certainly had that experience. I hope that I have not given the same experience to others very often. I believe Karen has hit the nail on the head when she mentions personal boundaries. Boundaries not only keep things out — like interruptions — but they also hold things together. In other words, our boundaries help define our identities. Without them my identity becomes diffuse.
    But your other point is well taken also. I know that I can become so single minded that even the person in front of me becomes secondary to the agenda I am pursuing. Love requires making choices.

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  3. liz Wessel Avatar
    liz Wessel

    Your observations surely do ring true! These technological conduits of super highway travel have not learned the social graces of artful communication. Nor do I hold out much hope for them. They barge in at the most inopportune times without any concerns for others.
    Last week I had the most bizarre experience at work in which I felt as though I was playing the main character in a Buster Keaton comedy flick. The situation at hand was urgent. A patient receiving palliative care services called to say he was having a problem getting his new pain prescription filled at the local pharmacy. His wife would have to drive to LA, in going home traffic, to pick up the hard copy RX. as the pharmacy would not accept a faxed order. And so the madness began…I knew this was not necessary, I called the pharmacy and faxed them educational information explaining the law and provided a code number to accept the RX. The pharmacist said the MD would need to refax the RX. with the special code number written on it. I called the MD to explain, had him paged, called the wife to tell her not to leave work and drive to LA as I would take care of the matter, and a flood of calls were going back and forth. As I was on the desk phone with one person, my cell phone would ring. I became a two fisted responder, this kept happening, it was quite stressful plight! One barrier after another, and one more seemingly endless hoop to jump through. Then at 5:00pm my cell rings, “What do you mean you do not have the medicine in stock? He must get his pain med today!…Oh, and you are going home now? Ok, the MD will need to order the pill form” And hence, the process started all over again. Finally, like a two fisted gun slinger, I triumphantly laid down my smoking phones and calmly called the patient and wife to let them know the RX ready and waiting for her to pick up on the way home from work!

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