Last week Miss Colorado represented her state in the Miss America pageant. Kelley Johnson performed a monologue on why she became a nurse and how a patient, Joe, told her she was more than JUST a nurse.
The following day, co-hosts on The View made flippant comments about her scrubs (her “costume”) and the doctor’s stethoscope she had around her neck.
Nurses and supporters of nurses across the country took to social media to defend Miss Colorado and the nursing profession. The View co-hosts did issue an apology after receiving so much backlash.
It was amazing to see so much support on my social media pages for nurses. As I watched this story develop and thought about the times in my life where a nurse helped make a bad situation better, it made me think about agriculture. Agriculture and nursing? Yes, it made me think… when will more farmers, ranchers, and their supporters rally around their industry like nurses did this past week? When people mock agriculture and the farmers and ranchers who work everyday to provide one of the safest and most economical food supplies in the world, why don’t we rally around those farmers and ranchers? When lies are told about farmers and ranchers why don’t we rally around them? After all, we ALL have to eat to survive, who do we think grows and raises that food? Farmers and ranchers!
Just like in nursing (or any profession) there are some bad eggs, some people that are an embarrassment to the entire profession, those bad eggs exist in agriculture too. Does the nursing profession let those bad eggs dictate how the other nurses are perceived? No, not from what I saw this past week when nurses across America united. In agriculture, why do the bad eggs determine what people think of agriculture? The negative images and negative stereotypes of American agriculture are what most people believe to be the norm.
The people who have chosen to raise food as their profession are more than JUST farmers and ranchers too. The farmers and ranchers I know have some of the same qualities of nurses… they provide the best care they can to the animal/patient in their care, they try to quickly and accurately diagnose a health problem so the animal/patient can begin recovery, they provide compassion when others may not be able to, they work on weekends, holidays, and nights, and they are some of the most selfless and humble people you will ever meet.
It is time to #agunite and to stand up for the farmers and ranchers who have taken a beating about their profession, the profession of growing and raising food. What do you say, will you #agunite and show your support?
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Dr. Lindsay can also be found on:
– Website (http://food.unl.edu/ag-and-food)
– Twitter/Instagram (agwithdrlindsay)
– Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/agwithdrlindsay)
– Pinterest (Lindsay Chichester-Medahunsi)
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