Who Are You First?

Scooter works up at the VA, and since it is pretty widely known that he is LDS the chaplains regularly call on him to give blessings to patients that request an LDS blessing.  Scott has taken heat for this once in a while from his superiors, but since he arranges to do the blessings during his breaks or during lunch there isn’t really much they harass him about now.  The chaplains know Scott and he is usually their first call.  Scott does have several other LDS co-workers, some of which are or have been Bishops.  Recently Scott was in the middle of a crisis and knew someone needed a blessing, so he stopped by one of the LDS doctors offices to ask if they could help out.  The LDS doc was with another newer LDS doctor and after Scott asked if they could help out the response was, “Well, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea. It might present a conflict of interest. What if we end up with this person as a patient?”

WHAT?????

My sister had over 1,000 surgeries (yes, really) and one of her doctors/surgeons at the University of Utah was James Parkin, who was head of Otolaryngology, he helped develop the cochlear implant. He was also a Stake President.  Whenever Ellen felt the need, she could ask him for a blessing, and sometimes it was right in the operating room.

 So this conversation makes me ask two questions, how important do these fellas think they are? And second – Who are they first? Are they bearers of the Priesthood of Melchizedek or are they employees of the federal government? I know who my husband is, his job was threatened and he continued to serve with the Priesthood that he carries, now I know how truly small these men really are.