Posted by Dinah on September 9, 2004, at 9:23:14
In reply to For Dinah, posted by Susan47 on September 8, 2004, at 23:56:27
Nor was my support intended solely or even largely for Dr. Bob in this thread. I saw people getting increasingly distressed by the picture. I thought they were almost certainly distressed by a misunderstanding. I attempted to bring everything down a notch in distress level while I did my best to see that Bob came speedily to the board and resolved the matter. Not for Dr. Bob so much as for the distressed posters. The deputy can take leave of absence from the job easier than the the job can take leve of absence from the deputy's sensibilities I suppose. I can see where it might be taken otherwise, but that was my intent.
As for faith in Dr. Bob, I suppose that's true. I think I'd use the word trust more than faith. Faith implies a leap of faith. A belief in something unknowable. While trust is something earned.
I've "known" Dr. Bob through my participation in Babble for a bit over three years. During that time I've disagreed and applauded his decisions. I've been him frustrated by his communication style, utterly infuriated, amused by his wit, touched by his kindness, and highly impressed by his discretion and patience. I don't think he's perfect. I've brought in communications from him to my therapist while I'm dissolved in tears. My therapist looks at them, then me and says "He's an MD psychiatrist." as if that explained everything and no further words were necessary. Must be some sort of interdisciplinary joke, because I always find additional words necessary. :)
But in the three years I've known him, he has never given me any reason to believe that he has anything but the board's best interests at heart. He has never given me any reason to believe he would deliberately hurt us as a joke or use us in hurtful manipulative experiments. He has *earned* my trust, in that sense. Just as my therapist has earned my trust in some areas. Just as my husband has earned my trust in some areas. I may not trust Dr. Bob to interpret posts the way I think he should, or mete out justice the way I think he should, or to understand things the way I think he should. But I trust Dr. Bob implicitly to do those things the way *he* thinks he should, doing what he thinks is *right*. It would have been wrong of *me* to not trust that the man had not done what people were thinking he had done. He has earned that trust from me.
Which is no statement about anyone other than myself. Dr. Bob has earned my trust, I'm not implying that others should consider that he has earned their trust. That's a personal thing.
poster:Dinah
thread:388086
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20040902/msgs/388624.html