December 11, 2015 Today we drove to Sokhothai, in central Thailand, to spend time at the Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary (BLES), started by a young Englishwoman, Katherine Connor, whose encounter with a young elephant, named Boon Lotts, changed her life forever. Katherine had taken a year off from her work doing retail sales in London in order to travel around Asia when she was twenty-one years old. She ended up working at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center where she met Boon Lotts, a baby elephant who was very sick. She formed a deep bond with the baby who eventually died. … Continue reading
Category Archives: Memoir
December 9th, 2015 “This is not a book of answers. This is a book of questions. More precisely, it’s about living a questioning life, a life of unknowing. If we’re ready to live such a life, without fixed ideas or answers, then we are ready to bear witness to every situation, no matter how difficult, offensive, or painful it is. Out of that process of bearing witness the right action of making peace, of healing, arises.” ——BEARING WITNESS by Bernie Glassman, Buddhist monk Today is officially the first day of our tour, even though most of our little group of … Continue reading
The Long Journey to Chiang Mai: “Ma’am, you can just walk right through. You’ve been pre-qualified.” I felt like I had won the lottery. It was like travel in the old days. Nothing to remove. Nothing to take off. Nothing to pull out. I just walked right through. An auspicious beginning. I’m sitting here in LAX for four hours, waiting for the flight to Seoul then on to Chiang Mai. Seoul has special significance for my family. In 1960, my father lived in Seoul during his time as Secretary of the United Nations Peacekeeping force at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), … Continue reading
Sawadeeka (Greetings in Thai) Why Thailand? I’m asked that question every time I mention my vacation plans for this coming December, 2015. The answer has to do with Jami Sieber, a former neighbor in The Commons—my co-housing community. Jami, a well-known electric cellist, plays hauntingly evocative music she composes herself. In 2001 Jami was invited to Thailand to compose the music for a film about the plight of Asian elephants. Since meeting and falling in love with these magnificent animals, Jami has been devotedly involved in the Asian elephant crisis. She has released a CD recording, “Hidden Sky,” which benefits elephant … Continue reading
Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk, beloved by many, said: “It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community—a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. This may be the most important thing we can do for the survival of the earth.” The idea of co-housing communities originated in Denmark in the early 1980s. The concept spread rapidly. There are now hundreds of co-housing communities worldwide. The majority of these communities are found in the U.S, Europe, Australia and New … Continue reading
There’s a refrain you might have heard or used as a kid in response to insults hurled your way. “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Did you really believe that words could never hurt you? As a fourth year medical student I had a deeply disturbing experience that permanently changed the way I speak to my patients. During my two-month rotation in the pulmonary department, I learned about all sorts of conditions related to the respiratory tract. My job was to take a complete history and perform an abbreviated physical exam on each … Continue reading
I’m naked. My head is shaved. I’m running for my life between endless rows of small barracks, fierce barking dogs biting at my heels. I turn and look. Behind the dogs the same SS guards who shaved my head are chasing me. I know they want to catch me and throw me into the gas chamber. They are gaining on me. I keep running as fast as I can, but they keep gaining on me. I glance behind as one of the guards has raised his pistol and is about to strike me. I gasp for air, and find myself … Continue reading
July 1st, the first day of internship at Mercy Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, began at 7 am on the run. As I entered the hospital lobby in my brand new, starchy white lab coat, I heard the operators’ steady stream of messages on the overhead pager. “Doctor Elliott, come to the emergency room. You have a patient.” “Doctor Elliott, come to the lab.” “Doctor Elliott, go to room 109 STAT.” “Doctor Elliott, call the operator.” I found myself wondering who this Doctor Elliott person was that was so in demand with the same last name as mine. With a … Continue reading
The mouth of the canyon is wide with a wet, sandy bottom. Tracks from horse hooves mingle with the deep imprints of truck tires and a faint set of ruts from wagon wheels, evidence of the comings and goings of life in the canyon. I can’t resist taking off my shoes and adding my own set of tracks to the others. The cool, wet sand and water squeeze through my toes. It’s Sunday, December 5th, 1971, a good day to explore the canyon. Since arriving in the Navajo Nation a couple months ago to teach at the boarding school, I’ve … Continue reading
At 12,000 feet in the Andes, I lived with descendants of the Incas, Indians who had never seen a white woman in their village, viewed me with suspicion and then overnight saw me as a magic healer. They lined up outside my door to be healed. In 1974 I had never heard of the word “placebo” and didn’t even know about the concept behind the word. Below is an excerpt from my memoir, the story of how I came face to face with the placebo effect high in the Andes Mountains. —————————————————————————————- The hacienda reeked of neglect, abandoned for nearly … Continue reading