But working a medical librarian in a hospital gave me one special gift: I got to see the med students and doctors' lives up close. There's only one way to sum it up: Med school really, really sucks. Internship and residency suck more. There is no way I would want to be a doctor. I just don't have the passion for it.
To be a doctor you have to love medicine more than anything else in the world, because otherwise the $150,000+ salaries don't cut the 80+-hour work weeks, sleepless nights, and years of training that go into it. The social prestige doesn't make up for the patients who scream bloody murder at you because you can't cure their dying parent or because you misdiagnosed their kid. It certainly can't fill the hole left in your soul when a patient dies under your care.
In spite of being married to a billionaire and having guaranteed financial security for the rest of her life, Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg is still willing to go through the pure hell that is internship, residency, and the life of a pediatrician to help kids live healthy lives.
I hope someday I'll find my passion like she has. I hope you do too.
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| (from Mark Zuckerberg's facebook profile) Congrats to the happy couple! |
Wow, I really liked this post --- puts life in perspective, ya know? It's all about being passionate in your actions. I hope someday my kids will look on what I've done in my life & say, "Now *there* is someone who's found her passion in life". Thanks for such a thought-provoking post! :)
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the PBS show where they followed a group of med students through the entire process? Holy Moly! You've gotta be either a masochist or a saint to put yourself through all that!
ReplyDeleteI think Priscilla Chan must be a very interesting person. I read that before she agreed to move to California with him she made him sign a contract agreeing to one date per week, and a minimum of a hundred minutes of alone time. How refreshing... someone who wants a prenup focused on time not money!
A prenup based on time? I really want to meet this lady. Unlikely event though...
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