Why Medicine?

"Why Medicine?" - the most commonly asked question I get these days. Well, the second most, right after, "What kind of Dr. do you want to be?" It is an important question. One I expect will be asked during my interviews for medical school. I feel as if everyone expects some life altering scenario that sent me down this path. I hate to disappoint them, but that is not the case for me.  I did not have a trip to the ER, an ill family member, or a life altering experience that told me that medicine was my calling. In fact, it is just the opposite. I have always known. I am the cliche. The kid who when asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" answered, "A doctor." I know that is boring, but it is true. 

I have always wanted to do this. I have always been fascinated by the body and how unique we are as a species. Humans are fascinating. We are can think, build, design, and create from the world around us. We can feel, hurt, and absorb the emotions of others in our species. We can grow, bend, and break all at the same time. We can process light into images, process those images, and make decisions as a result. We make and then hear beautiful music that stirs our souls. We learn (well sometimes) and remember. Even though we are simply composed of a few atoms that are found abundantly on our planet, we are complex, ordered beings that seem to defy the very laws of physics that govern the universe. Yet when you look closer, we are really following them. We don't understand how we work. We are just beginning down that path as a species. For everything we think we have learned today, we will later realize that we were just turning the page of discovery.

Medicine is breathtaking. The ability to study the human condition is only for a privileged few. A privilege that often brought persecution. One that is a solemn honor. To care for others, to help heal others, is the greatest calling one can have. While others in my life have struggled with what they wanted to do when they grew up, I have never experienced that agony. Instead, I have been on a long journey to return to the calling I held as a small child. To go into medicine. To become a life long student of the human condition. To use all my learning and knowledge to help better my fellow man. That is why I chose medicine.