What's worse is that we choose to recognize this problem after something terrible has happened. There is no "preemptive attack" on poverty, no prior action. Instead, the world waits for something awful to happen: a tsunami, a hurricane, an earthquake. Why do we have to wait for a crisis to kick things into gear?
You know what else sucks? When you don't have TIME for a crisis. Can you imagine? You might wonder what kind of life anyone would lead that would make them too busy for a crisis. But it happens.
A girl in my med school class (I hope she doesn't mind me relaying her story) - her dad still hasn't been found. He was in Haiti with some students, some of which have returned home safely and others who haven't. When she was telling me this, she sounded surprisingly calm. It was Thursday, a few days after the quake and about five days before our first test of this block. The long weekend was our chance to study - her chance to go home and be with her family. She said it sucked - no matter what happened, she'd have to go home, but it sucked because she had to study. "There's no time for a crisis in med school," she said.
Well ain't that something? A situation so grave, so close to your heart - and you have to worry about taking a test because you fear getting behind. Granted, she felt that way because she said her dad would want her to focus on school. Most of our parents would, and perhaps in her situation, I would hang onto that notion as well. But it just seems wrong.. and sad... that school makes us feel that way. We're in school, in this type of school, because it's our life long goal to be physicians. We want to help people, serve them, make differences. But while we learn, we regret taking a few days to deal with something personal.
This is not how it's going to be when we're actually starting our careers, is it? I hope not.
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