I'll say it to you all because I can't really say it directly to the people who tell me such things: please don't call hospice workers — or really any health care workers — "angels" or "heroes."
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ok, guilty as charged and sorry. can i just say thank you for everything you do to help those of us who are dealing with death instead? i think we revert to spiritual terms like “angel” because of the comfort it brings? i also refer to my pups as angels on earth because of their comfort.
aug 29, 2025, 3:46 pm • 0 0 • view
Ha! I'll take the comparison to a pupper. Yes, "thank you" is fine. I've also had people tell me I'm "doing the Lord's work," which I can get under.
aug 29, 2025, 4:10 pm • 0 0 • view
It's uncomfortable to get that sort of adulation, obviously. Makes us feel like you're not seeing the whole person, as complicated, fragile and morally ambiguous as any person is. Take me more seriously than that, as Max Clelland used to say.
aug 29, 2025, 3:33 pm • 2 0 • view
More important, it doesn't take the people we work with seriously. I don't go to The Dying or The Suffering. I just talk to people, most of whom would really rather not be defined by their health conditions.
aug 29, 2025, 3:35 pm • 6 0 • view
(Yeah, I get it, not everyone can do this job, but it's really not as hard to do as people think. And as anyone who reads my stuff knows, sometimes you get some pretty funny stories out of it.)
aug 29, 2025, 3:37 pm • 2 0 • view
This is an odd grievance
aug 29, 2025, 11:58 pm • 0 0 • view
Bluesky is a free social media service
aug 30, 2025, 1:00 am • 0 0 • view