HIPPA, HIPPA
Hooray!
This Has Been a Test You Can't
Fail
Having started a new job at a new business
I found myself having to take the HIPPA (The Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act ) new employee course. It took about an hour
online and had a mere 15 question test at the end. Of course, if you don't
pass the test with 80% or take it again, you don't work until you
do.
I have always been the kind of person that
cannot stand being "wrong." Not that I haven't been wrong plenty of
times. I just hate being so. Tests are not something you just
pass. Tests and exams are something you slaughter and get as near perfect
as possible. High School was straight A and College was 3.98.
Perhaps my insecurities require this of myself, but I also love learning and
believing one has learned all there is, as in the "truth" of the Church of the
Bible, in hindsight, just never worked for me. The one thing I appreciated
about the Apostle Paul was his use of the term "Present Truth" and not simply
"Plain Truth" as if it was all sewed up and complete.
When I took my National Therapeutic Massage
Exam they only tell you if you passed or failed and you either get a license or
you don't this time around. The seconds it takes for the computer to
correct it are agonizing but I waited knowing....."Well Mr. Diehl, you
passed. Wow....you really passed." LOL That's just the
way I am.
As an EMT, I was told to take an Advance
Life Support class for three days. Didn't take long to see I was out of my
league. Most were ER nurses and I was a EMT. I read the book which I
had not seen until then like crazy during the entire three day seminar.
Then the test.....The teacher took me aside and said, "I have good news
and bad news. You passed and I'd love to have you teach the class.
However, you are only an EMT, so can't do that." I
smiled.... It felt good as usual.
Now lest you think I'm being a know it
all, (I simply enjoy learning well what I am supposed to
know) I'll share another experience that gave me pause for thought. A
little bit of self disclosure is good for the soul. For lots of reasons
not hard to figure out, I ended up with a boat load of clinical depression in
the 1990's. Ministering had turned into a nightmare. I kept so many
things inside and close to my chest. I simply did not understand what was
happening or what to do, if anything, about it. I ended up having to get
some personal help due to the classic symptoms of depression. In my own
view now after all these years, depression is repressed anger that one feels
they either have no right to express (be a good minister and have faith) or the
price of expressing the anger is to high (you're fired). So I
went for counseling.
In the course of this experience I was
"tested," which if you have never had that done, can be a bit
disconcerting as testing usually comes up with answers right or wrong.
Psychological testing is a bit tense in thinking what it might show. I can
fully understand why some blow it off because it hits pretty close to
home.
At any rate, I was given the test.
Here is how it went.
1. 1,2,3____
2. a,b,c_____
3. 2,4,6_____
4.
1a,3b,6c______
I think you get the point. I was
mortified. Do they think I'm stupid? But in short order the
combos got more and more complicated until by question 18 I could see the
relationship in my mind but could not physically put it down on paper. I
have never had such a feeling. I knew the answer but could not physically
write it down.
So I got that one
wrong.
When it was "Let's talk about this," time,
the counselor said, "You did well. In fact, you did amazingly well.
You like me saying that don't you Dennis don't you?" I said, "Well
sure, with how I have been feeling, it feels good to do something
well."
He said, "Dennis, it doesn't help
much to be the smartest man in depression counseling..." I
just looked at him and teared up. I was exhausted with World Wide Church
of God drama, loses and confusion. All I could say was, "I
know....can something help me get out of the hopeless
experience."
I got some help. Learned some things about
myself and then went on to see the whole WCG world fall apart and every
congregation I ever pastored tank and disappear.
Anyway, back to the HIPPA test. You
had to get 80% and I am not into the kind of material this test required, but I
did have to pass it. I missed three!!! I felt my stomach
churn. I'd have to listen to all those videos over again. Spend
another hour taking the test again. Plus....I had failed
something!!! That is just not acceptable.
Then I noticed I could save but not submit
finish. I didn't want to "finish" because I did not think I'd pass.
So I saved it and the test popped back up. I could see the pink lines
saying "Incorrect!" Ugh.... And then I noticed
what I had not seen before. "Select another answer."
Really? Another chance? Could it be this easy after all self
talk about failing it? I picked another answer, you know the
one you just knew was right to begin with but didn't pick, and the pink line
changed to Green! Whoa..... I corrected the others and pressed
submit. It popped up with getting 10/10 and 15/15 and showed me a
nice certificate of completion.
Wow....wouldn't it be amazing and evidence
of the World Tomorrow if whenever one made a mistake and knew it, gave a wrong
answer and wanted to correct it or screwed up and wanted another chance, you
simply had to go back to the question and try again? No
criticism. No scoffing. No recrimination. No
embarrassment. No demerits. No penalties. No being made fun
of. No criticism of oneself. No nuttin... You just get
to correct it and the first wrong answers were as if they had never
happened. Dreaming I know. Frankly, this is the kind of real
Deity I can conceive of as opposed to the one who says he is "jealous" or has a
need to throw one into either an ever burning hell or one that crisps you up
quickly.
"Select another answer...."
Wow....It truly would be the Kingdom of God and Heaven on Earth.
I don' know if the Apostle Paul really
wrote the following. It doesn't sound like him when you read his other
rants and raves against others who disagree with him, but let's say he grew up
too and got to "select another answer."
I Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love
is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does
not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it
is not easily angered, it
keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love
does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth. 7 It
always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never
fails
Love is a do
over without all the baggage and humiliation. The only human I find in the
Bible who ever actually did this was the father in the story of the prodigal
son. He seems to have simply said to the son he loved "select
another answer."
Nice....really
nice.......