Moral Injury & Reformation with Chaplain Shelly C. Rood | Others Over Self® Leadership Conference

I was hoping to just have a little bit of an open discussion. Thank you. Will appreciate you. About moral injury. No fancy slides. Just me. Hopefully you can't see up my skirt. I don't even have a lap anymore. Isn't that fun? All right, so moral injury. Raise your hand if you have heard of this topic before or that phrase. Anyone want to tell me what they think? Moral. I'm. I'm not going to prove you wrong. Okay. Anyone want to tell me what their perception of moral injury is? Go ahead and shout it out, ma'. Am. When someone wants you to do something against your own virtues, morality, and belief system. Yes. Yes. It can bring a lot of point of contention, and she's spot on. Thank you for being here. It's so nice to see you in person. We've had the virtual relationship for a few years, so she is absolutely correct. What we want to do with our lesson today is really introduce the idea of moral injury and. And flesh out how it has an effect on our lives. Hopefully you have something to take notes in front of you or jot down or. I know there's some spare paper back at the wellness table if you need something. So when we hear the phrase moral injury, we're talking about this intense psychological distress that can either follow actions or the lack of actions. And this distress or these actions strongly clash with somebody's moral or ethical code. Now, if you are a member of Women Veteran Strong and you participate in our content regularly, then you know that we've done two lessons on moral injury. So this is something we're very aware of, and yet the world at large doesn't really recognize this quite yet. So I love that we are being thought leaders with this idea. The United States military and the veterans service community, the Department of Veteran affairs has actually recognized moral injury as being a viable reason to have a disability. So when we say moral injury, we're talking about deeper and deeper and deeper. This is something that is real. It's something that exists within our communities, and it's something that we need to be paying attention to. There's another focus on moral injury that I've heard from a lot of government organizations, and it's not just about, well, what you did is against my feelings and my beliefs. It's really more about the difference between an organization and an individual. Now, I heard somebody say that they've been fired from a job. Me, too. Has anyone else been fired from a job? Has anyone else chose to walk away from an organization that they felt that was clashing with Their personal values or morals or ethics. Almost every single person in this room has their hand raised at one of those. A lot of times when we hear the talk about moral injury, it can be individual versus individual. And yet if we back up and look more at the landscape of human interaction, we're looking at individual versus organization. We have organizations that work together very well, like our partners here. We all are on this what we call shared mission. But then there are organizations that work against each other. So somebody think for just a minute, tell me the names of two organizations that work against each other. Just in like the crux of who they are and what they stand for. Anybody got anything? Yes. Democrats and Republican? Possibly. Possibly. Sometimes they're on opposite ends of a spectrum. What else? How about non political hospitals and insurance companies? That's a complicated relationship, isn't it? What else, David? Union versus non union. That's another good one. So this is real. I mean this is the stuff of life and it's hard to. You can't always ride the middle road, can you? What if you're like me? And what if you believe in eternal consequence, Heaven and hell? I don't think you can ride the middle line. We have to take a stance. We have to figure out where we fit in. And it's going to be different. It's going to be different for us as an individual and it's going to be us different for the organizations that we're working with and representing. That even brings us back to who we are as Americans. Because as an individual you have human rights. I believe that like our Bill of Rights states, we have human rights that are inalienable, given to us through divine powers, just as human beings. And nothing and nobody can take those away or should interfere with them. And on the same time, as an organization, there's lots of organizations out there that infringe on human rights, aren't there? Don't say them out loud, you're going to get punched. How about PETA? What does that stand for? People against. Oh, people for. Sorry, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. So then who's. Who opposes PETA? Just generally. Meat eaters, hunters, whale harpoonists, researchers. There's a huge spectrum of what could possibly be perceived as the opposite of what PETA as an organization is standing for. So we can say that about literally any organization. Kind of bringing it back to our audience here. We have a lot of veterans in the room, right? Yeah, yeah. Yes. There's a lot of service organizations who we feel we're either for or Against, Right again, don't say them out loud, you might get punched. Is it going to do us any good while we're having conversations with and around these organizations to always be opposing? Why? Hey Jennifer Scott, you're right. When you just immediately oppose and you shut it down, then there's no room for dialogue. And if we ever want to make any type of change or have an influence, we have to have an opportunity for dialogue. So as human beings, what we want to do, if we're unhappy with this higher level of organizational values and we want to see change, we call that reformation. Who can think of a person who is well known throughout history as a moral reformer? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Absolutely. Anyone else? Nelson Mandela, dare I say Jesus, Gandhi. So think, think about the morals or the inalienable human rights that these people, people were either for or against what they represented and how they change the landscape and the dialogue of how we exist on earth, especially as Americans. What about John Newton? Do you know who he is? The author of the song Anybody want to sing it? What about Amazing Grace? So John Newton is the author of the song Amazing Grace. If you don't know, he was one of the most horrendous slave traders that ever existed. He worked on one end of the spectrum for many, many years, came to a place of change and then became a moral reformer on the opposite end. So you as an individual have an opportunity to not only shift and change the landscape of morals in your society and in your organizations, but you have the freedom and the ability to change that landscape within your own heart. You might feel that you are hard pressed in one area or subject. You are allowed now, tomorrow, 10 years from now, 40 years from now, you're allowed to change your mind, you're allowed to have a change of heart. You may have even had a job and been an advocate. On one side of the spectrum, you're allowed to change and go to the other side of the spectrum. So let's talk about spectrums and areas. If you have paper, I'm going to give you a list of 11 so you can write 1 to 11 down the side. And these are your 11 areas of ethical importance. 11 areas of ethical importance. We're going to briefly touch on each one. And your homework. Homework, you know, in your free time is to consider where you as an individual are in each of the 11 areas of ethical importance. And if you really want to be a straight A student or you're a Hermione Granger like me, then I also want you to consider your Organization that you represent or work for and think about where they are on the spectrum for each of these areas as well. All right, the first one is beginning of life. Can you feel the temperature rising in this room already? Oh, my gosh. What are we talking about? Beginning of life. We're talking about conception. We're talking about abortion rights. We're talking about when the human life begins. Where is that? What does that look like? And what do we believe? There's a spectrum there. People believe all different kinds of things now related to beginning of life. There are a lot of other issues that are deeply woven in that. Today's discussion is not to tell you that you're right or wrong on one end of the spectrum or another. This is a safe place. Today's discussion is because I'm challenging each person to know where you as an individual situation. And furthermore, I'm challenging you to figure out where your organization you're representing sits and does that align. So beginning of life is number one. Number two is three words. Biotech, genetics, and cloning. Biotech, genetics, and cloning. Does anyone remember the name of the first cloned animal? It was a sheep. It was Dolly who said it. Andrea. That's right. Why was it named Dolly? Don't remember. Does anyone remember why it was named Dolly after. After Dolly Parton? Because it had very big mammary glands. You're welcome for that bit of trivia. Do you think that our DNA is sacred to one individual and nobody else should touch it? Do you think that I should take my cord blood when my child is born and save it so that maybe we can use what exists in that cord blood to help fight some disease that he. She might have later on? Those are the questions related to number two. All right, number three. Is our tension really high? Do we need to just. It's okay. This is the stuff of life. Number three, end of life. We have a few presenters this weekend. We are going to touch on end of life. Don't worry. It's going to be done in a beautiful way. But like it or not, raise your hand if your life is going to end. There we go. Can't get away from it. You can freeze your body if you want, but your spirit is going to end. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Issues related to end of life include when you age, should we put you on an iceberg and set you off to sea? Dr. Jack Kevorkian and his end of life treatments. Those are all questions related to end of life. Should you stay on modern medicine's gift of prolonging end of life for how long? What does that look like? These are all issues that we need to know about. All right, what number are we on for capital punishment? What is capital punishment? Can somebody define that for me? When you're sentenced to die, capital punishment, end of life. Boom. Game over. Do you believe that the justice system of an organization or society has the right to tell somebody that their end of life is now? Not really a yes or no question. There's kind of a spectrum there. Which brings us to the next one. Number five. War and violence. There's a term that exists justified war. And on the other end of the spectrum, there is no justified war. Where do you feel about all of that? I mean, we are veterans, most of us. We took an oath. We decided to stand up for the defense of our nation. Maybe we have a conscientious objector or two amongst our midst. Should we stone them? I don't know. Not for me to decide. Chaplains in the military, do they carry weapons? Some of them do. If you ask the head chaplain for the military, they'll say no. If you ask the chaplain out in the field in Iraq, he might be packing. I'm gonna get in trouble, aren't I? All right, the next one. What number are we on? 6. Sexual ethics. Oh, man. Oh, man. Don't worry. We're not gonna stick on this. Do you think you should have sex before you're married? What's the definition of marriage? Do you think somebody has the right to touch your body? Sexual. Everything sexual ethics falls into here, which can be connected to, number one, beginning of life. Right. We talked about that. Raise your hand if your personal views on sexual ethics has changed as you've aged. Change. Changed as you aged, or do you feel like you did when you were 13 and hormones raging still? Do you feel like maybe we need to rein that in, or do you feel like maybe we need to let that go? I don't know. Let's move on. Next is creation, care, slash environment. Now, what's really fun about this is when we did this exercise as a group, I learned that Laverne Santangelo is very passionate about this one. Creation, care, and environment. I didn't know that she had such a heart for sustainability. When we think of creation, care, and environment, what's a good example of organizations that go one way or another? Mm. This ties into economics, which is the next one. Economics. The economic landscape of China and the economic landscape of the United States. Are very different. The creation, care and the rules related to the environment for the two countries are also very different. All right, third from last, violence and gun control. This is different than the war and violence discussion. Maybe you haven't thought about that before. War and violence is a fully separated area of ethical importance than violence and gun control. The next one is one that I know. If I were to stereotype our audience today, I would say that tempers are going to flare as soon as I announce the next title of this area. Ready for it. It's three words. They start with RG&D. Race, gender and diversity. That is one area of ethical importance. So you can see how some people really hone in on one area and that is like their life's passion and they advocate for it. Or for some people it's a non issue. I would say I'm less passionate about creation, care and environment than I am the race, gender diversity one. That's okay. Give yourself permission to be passionate about one area over another. And the last one is also three words and it is immigration. Can't spell it. I M M I G R A T I O N Immigration, refugees and borders. Again, different from war and violence, yet also can be tied into it. So wrapping up our lesson today on moral injury. This is just a thought starter. This is not to sway you one way or another. This is to simply point out that moral injury occurs when we're having discussions that are against our own personal set of values related to these 11 areas of ethical importance. Your homework is to know what those spectrums look like for each of the 11 where you sit on the spectrum for each of the 11. And then if you want a double gold star, do the same thing for the organizations that you represent or are connected to. One more time for my A type people running through the list of the 11 areas. Beginning of life, biotech, genetics and cloning, end of life, capital punishment, war and violence, sexual ethics, creation, care, slash environment, economics, violence and gun control, race, gender and diversity. And finally, immigration, refugees and borders. Now our closing thought for this session is related to healing. How do we heal from a moral injury? Hey, good news. Currently there is no clinically defined way to treat moral injury. Shelly, what a terrible lesson. I repeat, there is no clinical way defined to treat moral injuries. The absolute best thing that we can do is simply talk about it, talk about it, have discussion, gain understanding of why something happened and then we stand an opportunity to heal. I'm going to close with a personal story of where I noticed moral injury in my Own life. My youngest, Oliver, is three years old now, and he was born with a full cleft palate when he was not even 24 hours old. He couldn't breathe on his own. His jaw was actually in the back of his throat. So he had to have reconstructive surgery to bring it forward. We lived in and out of hospitals for that entire first year. One day, I guess I should say, since he's three, he was born at the start of this whole epidemic pandemic craziness. The landscape was just changing. We would come in and be required to wear masks, and then our healthcare providers would show up four hours later with 12 layers on. And then it went to where we couldn't even be with our child. And then it went to where only one parent could be with the child. Just hard times. So one day, my husband and I could only be with the child one at a time, and we couldn't even change places in the hospital. You had to exit to the parking lot, switch places, and another one could come in. By the time I'm like, just a week after giving birth at this point, by the time I exited to go to the parking lot, switch with him so he could come in. He came into the hospital room to a newborn baby, swaddled like they should be intubated with a breathing tube, but he had a prosthetic palette that was literally glued in with, like, denture cream. So it's glue. Well, the nurse was not fully trained in what she was doing. She used too much glue. So this little baby's mouth was glued shut. Do babies spit up, like, all the time? So this poor little infant had tried to spit up, and he was choking on himself because his mouth wouldn't open, and he had a breathing, A feeding tube through his nose. If my husband hadn't walked in in that moment, we may have lost our child. Right. God willing, we still have him. So who do we blame? All we know is that there's hurt. Is it negligence of the hospital? I don't know. Not really. We don't know where to place the blame, but at the end of the day, there's hurt. Everything was okay. The baby made it through. There was no physical injury that came of it, but there was still real, real genuine hurt. That's a moral injury. Figure out where you stand, what actions were taken or inactions were taken. I think for us, it was more of an inaction and talk about it. And the more we talk about it, the more we can heal and come to peace with that situation. Thank you for indulging me in this lesson on moral injury. We are going to take a 15 minute break and we are going to come back with a lesson that Ms. Tina is going to kick off about how to really own your day. Thank you very much.