I spent the end of last week on my couch nursing a severely sprained wrist incurred when I fell Wednesday night at Casa. I’d forgotten that there was a step down from where I was standing and stepped into air. Wrist injuries are so common from falls that they have their own medical acronym: FOOSH, or Fall Onto Outstretched Hand.
I certainly felt FOOliSH, but it was a better outcome than the last time I took a major tumble. That time, I tripped over my own feet while crossing a street in Dublin, Ireland, and bounced my head off the pavement. I got a concussion and my poor husband got days of dirty looks as we traveled back home, me sporting a whopping black eye.
Anyway, there I was on the couch with nothing to do but watch TV. I usually watch YouTube, especially videos of experts at work: making primitive tools or candy or soap, grooming pets, trimming cows’ or horses’ hooves, cleaning artwork or cars, building terrariums or furniture, cutting fish or crafting jewelry or dioramas.
But this day, I flipped over to Netflix and found “The Greatest Day in Pop,” a documentary about the making of “We Are the World,” the star-studded 1985 recording to raise money for African famine relief. This, too, featured experts at work, and it was a treat to see some of my ‘80s music idols talk about their participation in the recording.
Producer Quincy Jones famously posted a sign at the entrance to the studio where the recording took place: “Check your egos at the door.” That message doesn’t apply only to artists, but to anyone who must work with others to achieve a common goal. It’s healthy to have an honest sense of one’s skills and abilities; it’s not so healthy to believe that those skills and abilities make you better or more capable — or more right — than others.
The receptionists, nurses, doctors, X-ray techs and radiologist I saw last week worked together smoothly toward a common goal: diagnosing and treating my injury. How much more effective government would be if those involved were less occupied with their own concerns than what’s best for all.
