First, I try to do no harm.
Second, it’s impossible to live a life where we do no harm. But “First do no harm” is a worthy ideal, lest we irrevocably harm each other.
Before today, I believed that “First do no harm” (“Primum non nocere” in Latin) was part of a doctor’s Hippocratic Oath. While it isn’t, it does capture the intent of the oath, and I see no harm in that.
Yesterday, the phone rang early in the morning while I was trying to do no harm in writing my daily blog. I was afraid that the ringing would harm my boyfriend Michael by disturbing his sleep, so I rushed to grab the phone. Because our new home is still unfamiliar to me, I slightly harmed my head on my way.
I hope I do no harm by quoting this resulting dialog:
Phone caller: Hello! I’m calling from the Department of Public Health. We are doing a survey about people’s health habits. Your number has been randomly selected and I would like to ask you some questions about you and your family’s health blah blah blah
Me (interrupting): I need to tell you that in trying to answer this phone before it woke up my boyfriend I just smashed my head which is not good for my health, so I’m going to go now.
Phone caller (sounding amused): No problem.
I could have said, “No problem for YOU. What kind of public health policy is this?” but I had already harmlessly hung up.
I hope to do no harm with these photos.
First, I hope I do no harm to the walls in our new place by hanging up some pictures. Second, I hope our cats do no harm with their claws.
At 9 AM, some genius from Apple is calling me about my photo posting problems here on WordPress. Perhaps there’s a techie equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath.
Here’s the first thing that comes up on YouTube for “First do no harm. ”
Do no harm by leaving a comment and I’ll do no harm by expressing my thanks to all.
