California Dreamin'

I had a young patient in the hospital last week that I went to round on, and met her mother. She was a young Hispanic woman, anxious and obviously trying to do the best she could for her daughter. She said that she had recently moved here, and I asked where from? She said Arizona. Making conversation while I examined her baby, I said my school was out by Phoenix, and what brought her to Visalia? She said "I can get much more assistance programs for my kids here- it doesn't make sense for me to live anywhere else. My whole family moved here because in California, we can get so much free stuff."

Her honesty took me aback. I've said before that I can't judge anything as right or wrong, black or white. To an honest and educated person, things are always shades of gray. I cannot- and will not- comment on what my thoughts were at that moment, because what I truly think is that things are much more complex than they may seem. And my opinion is not really relevant anyway. This was just a conversation that surprised me, and demanded some thought. And I wanted to record it here because I thought it might provoke some thought in others.