Marlene Buckler, MD, FACEP

    Greetings of the season!

    This is my first blog and I just want to acquaint you with the STAY OUT OF MY ER (SOMER) website and also to say hello.

    Somehow, every year, even though I cannot imagine it could happen again so soon, the Christmas spirit engulfs me.  It's funny really, when you think of it.  This season, call it Christmas, the festival of lights, Hanukkah, or whatever, comes around every twelve months and you'd think we'd all be tired of it by now.

    What is it with this time that we think we could just do without it next year and yet, when December rolls around once more, we are seduced, yet again, by its spell.

    When I was a wee child it felt like an eternity from one Christmas to the next.  In retrospect I realize that Einstein was right about time.  It really is relative.  If you're having fun time appears to go by quickly.  If you're unhappy it drags on.  If you are a child waiting for Santa it literally marches along at a snail's pace.

    I was listening recently to a Christmas album by Air Supply and a song entitled 'The Eyes of A Child' by Graham Russell and Ron Bloom.  The song touched me deeply.  Its beautiful message says,

" In the eyes of a child there is joy, there is laughter  

  There is hope, there is trust, a chance to shape the future                   

  For the lessons of life there is no better teacher

  Than the look in the eyes of a child"

    So perhaps that's it.  Maybe it is the child in each of us that ultimately keeps the season fresh.

    May you and those you hold dear always have the good fortune to look into the eyes of a child and know the lessons of life.  If you can keep your perspective in this way you will nourish your soul.  A healthy soul leads to a healthy body and a healthy body seldom has reason to find itself in an emergency room.

    Marlene Buckler, MD, FACEP          www.StayOutOfMyER.com