I’ve always said that I wanted to be cautious about ever publishing anything from the work I’ve done because, while, when I share what I have learned from my professional experiences, people are genuinely moved, interested and ultimately seem to change their perspective, gain greater empathy or want to find a way to help or get involved, I’ve always believed these aren’t my stories to tell.  The very real, often painful, experiences behind much of what I observed throughout my career belong to living, breathing people with hearts and feelings.

Just like the theory of observer effect, that the act of simply observing will impact a situation, I believe that the retelling of an experience will have an effect on those involved and, that it depends not only how it is retold and in what context, but by whom as to how profound the impact.  Happy events retold by a jealous acquaintance can take some of the joy from the participant’s memory.  Painful experiences which we have overcome that are told to show the triumph can be cathartic.  For many of the individuals I worked with, I don’t know where they are in their life now and I cannot know how any of them would feel about the retelling of any of their life events, even if it’s with the best intent in mind.  There are, though, so many instances where the experience was very enlightening for me and I think that I, hopefully, can tell it very much from my own point of view, just because these are some of the moments that have ultimately led to my drive to want to change the system, to believe there is a better way to do things and to hopefully, get others to think a little differently, too.   You will find these stories in this category.