Exam Week Thoughts

We have an exam coming up.  A big one.  I have been good and stressed out and overworked and in a generally foul mood.  I'm not sleeping well.

It happens.

But I was walking home from a review session today, and I went by the main hospital.  I looked in the window and saw this poor little girl who was about 5 or 6 years old sitting in a wheelchair.  She looked pretty sick.  I couldn't begin to guess what was wrong with her, but it looked bad.

I'm not normally like this, so maybe it's a testament to how little sleep I'm getting or my stress level or whatever… but… it made me remember why I'm doing this, why I hit the books.  It made me think that I'm really lucky that I'm well and healthy.  It made me think of how maybe I'll be able to help people one day.

I think my classmates and I get caught up in the intense studying most of the time and the general "pain in the asseness" that is medical school.  It's easy to lose sight of this.  We really are going to be doctors one day.  No matter the debates about the problems in healthcare and doctor compensation and the questions of ethics and specialties and the million other things we all worry about… we are going to be doctors one day.  We are going to REALLY help people.

I guess I'm going to hit the books a little harder today.

Just to butch it up a little bit I'll finish the story a little less philosophically.

Just past the main hospital and around the main corner is the smokers corner where all the smokers are exiled to.  It's RIGHT on my way home.  After seeing the sick little girl and feeling bad for her and feeling motivated to study more I turned that corner and was greeted by a thick mouthful of smoke.  

Then I was pissed off again.

Stop fucking smoking.