An opinion piece by Ling Sing Lin
One of the blogposts from the book “Being Human. Stories from Family Medicine” has the same title of “Who’s the Boss?”. It describes how, in the medical consultation, the patient (especially in today’s context of Internet Medicine), his employer or the insurer, is actually the Boss, not the doctor.
Lions and Fleas
A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble the flea.
- African proverb
In a world run by humans, we can have metaphorical lions and metaphorical fleas. You would expect the doctor to be the metaphorical lion and the patient the metaphorical flea, but as the earlier story relates, it may not be so.
Metaphorical Lions
These are the people in authority, ie parent, teacher, the boss in the office, the police or any government official, politicians in power, the customer, etc. They are not generally categorized as being kindly or benevolent. You may try to keep your distance from them.
Metaphorical Fleas
These are small, insignificant people. They are usually the child, the student, a worker (especially the low level worker), a constituent asking his Member of Parliament for assistance, a rule-breaker, etc. They are the small fry in the pond.
Reversal of Roles
However, in real life, a metaphorical lion can become a metaphorical flea, and vice versa. As the situation demands, we change roles:
—A henpecked husband can be a lion in the office but a flea at home
—A spoiled child is often the boss in the home
—A big tycoon can be a pleading supplicant when he breaks the law
—The leader of a country can become a “flea” when ousted from power
My take
I personally believe that however much of a boss, lion or dictator you are, you always have to answer to someone. Even political masters often have to pay heed to their constituents or they can lose their legislative seats. A lecturer has to take feedback from his students, or he may lose his job.
I know of people who terrify practically everyone they come into contact with. But they can be in awe of one “flea” in their lives —- the wife, the mistress, the child or grandchild, the secretary, or even the maid! (Don’t ask me why)
God is Supreme
Ultimately, no one is absolutely supreme and for all time, apart from God. Even the worst dictator, who apparently has no fear of anyone, will have to answer to God eventually.
lingsinglin
Dr Ling Sing Lin is a medical doctor by training. She worked in MOH HQ for many years, in policy making and administrative positions, until her retirement.
