Journal of Sacred Work

   Society only pays heed to two groups. The first group includes people who are brilliant at following the rules and supporting the status quo. The second group are the geniuses who know how to break the rules to establish new standards of excellence. The rest of us, of course, are cast into the giant corral of the ordinary.

   The first group is made up of successful judges, lawyers, doctors, businessmen, community leaders and some politicians. They uphold society's standards. By definition, most of the contemporary world admires the peak performers in this category. The second group are those who see the world differently and are therefore typically scorned by their contemporaries. They include inventors, artists. and any leader who advances meaningful change against the status quo. 

   It is the second group that may most interest caregivers. Great religious leaders, including Jesus, fit in this category because they advanced change even at the risk of their lives. In this group are also the great pioneers of medicine and charity: Albert Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, Madame Curie, Florence 
Nightingale, Clara Barton. And there's one more you may not know. 

   In 1847, Elizabeth Blackwell decided she wanted to go to become a physician. She was rejected by virtually every medical school in the country. Finally, she applied to Geneva Medical College in New York. Since admitting women to medical practice was unheard of, the administration asked the students to vote. The only reason Blackwell was accepted was because the students thought the vote was a practical joke! Upon learning the application was serious, horrified students and faculty initially refused to allow her to participate in classroom medical demonstrations.

   It requires not only genius but persistence to break through the roles to establish real change. Elizabeth Blackwell was a pioneer who went on to be not only a successful doctor but a model advocate for women's rights. 

   Yet, as odd as the discrimination against her may seem, a century later, female physicians (as well as lawyers) were still rare. In 1965, in my class of nearly three hundred at George Washington Law School, there were only eight women in our class.

   Finally, this injustice has been corrected so that most professional schools run about even numbers of each gender. The rule followers of the 19th century rejected women. The geniuses of change, like Elizabeth Blackwell, found the courage and the intelligence to establish an environment where all could serve. Imagine the reservoir of gifted women that were blocked from practicing physician caregiving before Dr. Blackwell finally knocked down the barriers that kept half of humankind from choosing a particular profession.

   Is there a way that this can help all of us today? Does each new generation need to discover that sometimes we need to hear the folks who are trying to blaze new pathways?

   Caregivers who practice Radical Loving Care will often find themselves shunned and rebuffed. Loving care often calls us to step outside the rules to meet human needs. May this week be a time when you can come to know even more clearly that the call of Love is more important than the call of the world's rules. 

-Rev. Erie Chapman