Self-centeredness
Posted on November 19, 2008
Today I realized that self-centeredness is a disease. I say that because I just read a really nice article on Prematurity Awareness Month, “Premature baby goes from 50/50 chance to healthy…” and some of the comments were a surprise. I know when people don’t understand a topic hurtful or inappropriate comments will often appear. I found out that can happen even when they’ve been there too. A few of the readers that had a premature baby were so focused on themselves they didn’t acknowledge the article is about the cause. They left comments basically stating, “Hey, what about me? My baby who was born premature too?”
I recognize that people like to be noticed. They probably would have liked the article to be about them. But who cares which family is chosen for the article? What matters is that an article was written and the cause is being put into the public’s eye. Isn’t that what really matters? Most people don’t know that 540,000 babies are born premature each year. Any article on this topic is a good thing. Period.
In addition, the March of Dimes released their new report card on the United States. It seems to have gotten some attention as I’ve seen a lot of buzz via blogs and online news articles about how poorly we are doing as a nation with regard to these tiny citizens. Read more about the report card on the March of Dimes website.
Every time I see an article on infertility, premature babies or depression I am thankful that someone else is sharing their story. The more stories, the more people will start to talk about these issues that impact millions of people each year. All of these articles are about the CAUSE, not the individuals. An I hope to see a lot more of these articles, no matter which woman or family is interviewed, so that one day infertility and premature babies get as much press as other diseases.
» Filed Under Infertility, Premature Births
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I agree – there is so much one-upmanship that goes on and I don’t really understand it. The family in the article were simply giving a face and voice to something that many of us have experienced – not saying “oh look at us – aren’t we special??”. What parent doesn’t think their child is special anyway? It is one thing to hear “X number of babies are born prematurely each year in the U.S.” and another thing to actually SEE a premature infant and learn what obstacles they face. I know I personally had many misperceptions about what having a premature infant would be like – I didn’t know how scary it would be; I didn’t know that my daughter wouldn’t simply just be smallish – she would require urgent critical care and be termed “unstable” the first week of her life. I wish I had known- then maybe it would not have been such a difficult shock.