Why I am mad at President Obama today, even though I shouldn't be

Last night, as I was sitting in the living room of our Hospice House doing some patient charting, some of the families were watching the news. All of a sudden, up on the screen, was this picture of President Obama at the Duke-Georgetown game.

I was, at first, surprised to see him commenting on a college basketball game looking all normal like the rest of us. Then I tried to convince myself, well, he can have fun, too.

But as I was driving home, it continued to bother me. And I wondered why.

Suddenly, it occurred to me. I was mad! And why was I mad? Because I wanted him to be busy looking serious doing his job. I did not want to see him having fun.

Silly? I know. But let me give you an example.

When I was an ICU nurse, we had many patients critically ill all of the time. We got kind of used to it, and of course, we would joke and laugh and have some fun during down times. We needed the break from all of the stress and hard work taking care of a constant stream of very ill patients. Many very young. It broke the tension and usually lasted only a few minutes and then it was back to work. But we knew the rule and the rule was, do not show this type of jocularity in front of patients and families.

Once, however, a young MD was telling a joke in the hall to some of us and we were all laughing for a moment. Suddenly, a man, whose daughter was in the ICU bed adjacent to us, came storming out, angry and red faced.

"How dare you laugh and joke while my daughter is in there fighting for her life. You should be doing something, reading about something that could help her. Why are you wasting time?"

We were taken aback. He knew that we were just humans having a human moment,and he had joined us on occasion to chit chat, but I guess he did not want to witness us having fun, when his daughter, who did eventually recover, was so ill. I didn't understand where his bitter, sudden anger arose from at that time. I thought he would know that we were very serious about our care for patients and I remember thinking perhaps he could cut us a break and be more understanding.

But last night when I saw our President on TV in his jeans and sweater having a wonderful time, while so many in this nation are struggling and waiting for help from him, I felt the very same way.

I finally understood.