It's named therefore it is.

Quick reflection about medicine, but really culture in general.

Everything is named. Everything has at least 1 or 2 names. They are generally descriptive and useful and have emerged from a need to identify that particular something. The names may depend on the stage of development (for example an embryo becomes a fetus…not because there was some sudden change…but because we’ve devised a subjective marker to distinguish the two). Similarly 2 membranes may look the same but do different things and thus they are separately named.

There is soooooo much vocabulary distinguishing everything from different types of bleeding to different types of stool.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we refined our language about less “tangible” stuff? ( Note to naturally inclined editors: I realize I ironically use “stuff” a not so precise word. It only seemed to underscore my point…thus I leave it in).

Debates on definitions etc. seem to get in the way of so much progress. Like how do you define “the poor.” The definition would certainly alter your approaches and methods employed in solving whatever the related problem might be…or targeting your project. So how do we get passed these definition wars and generate a common discourse…that everyone can understand and be a part of, that leads to solutions for problems and results in even greater unity?

I think the only answer is talk more about what it is your trying to solve. Talk talk talk talk talk for a while, as exhausting and tedious and unfruitful as it seems….and gradually come to an understanding with others so that you can effectively work. But no! action must be incorporated in there somehow to ensure that the talking is grounded in reality and isn’t just a theoretical romp through the meadow of social justice.

BLEH! I find myself in that meadow now. I better just go memorize some more names of vessels.