first love.

A wasn't my first love. Nope. I fell in love with nature even before I learned that I wanted to be a doctor. I had always been fascinated with forests and mountains and seas. I wanted to be an environmentalist even back then. The problem is, I have no idea how.

Fast forward to more than a decade later, I have almost given up on that dream. I decided that there are more pressing issues such as poverty and hunger that needed to be solved. I am now on my way to becoming a doctor. I see it as a means to achieving whatever I plan for the future. But don't get me wrong, I still feel in awe whenever I see the vast expanse (or the lack thereof) of natural foliage and fauna. However, saving Mother Earth is best left to those like Anna Oposa (how I wish i could be more like you).

Vietnamese coffee farmers handpick coffee
beans which they sell to wholesalers that
exports them to instant coffee manufacturers.

I called in sick today (on the advice of A). Aside from fever, chills, cough and flu, I think I have UTI again. My body failing me for the nth time now.  To rest my mind off work, I decided to watch these culinary documentaries (Chinese food and Coffee). As it turns out, food isn't just about food. Behind tasty dishes are complex political issues.Watching these films, it is hard not to see how everything is so interconnected. How the cup of coffee sitting in my desk is a result of a long struggle for a nation's independence and a person's day to day survival.

In Vietnam, almost all of their farmers now grows Robusta coffee. They have abandoned farming rice, rubber and other crops. They say coffee is more profitable. A few sacks of coffee beans is equal to several sacks of maize. Yet, the amount of money they earn is just enough to get by. Environmental conservationists claims that coffee farming in Vietnam is not sustainable. But what can they do?

Bustling streets of China

In China, more and more people are moving to the cities -the biggest human migration the world has ever seen. As older generations try to preserve their culture, practices and their environment deep in the mountains of China, developers are increasingly encroaching on these lands. There is once again the dilemma of economic prosperity vs cultural identity, urban development vs environmental conservation.

I remember the first time I went to Mt Banahaw. I was so amazed by the mountains, its cool weather and vast foliage that I quickly said to myself, "I wanted to live here!". But then, reality struck me and I figure, if I stayed there, I'll be living an isolated life and I would be turning my back on the things I wanted to accomplish. Yes, it is nice to live in such a peaceful place but I believe I have a social responsibility that I need to accomplish and I wont be able to do it by living in the mountains. The real action is here in the heart of the city. I could create way for significant change by staying here in the city. 

But I think the real solution is finding a way to strike the right balance between environmental conservationism and economic prosperity, modernism and preserving cultural identity. Many companies are now adapting sustainable entrepreneurship, green revolution, and triple bottomlines. But these trends are barely scratching the surface. There is still a bigger interplay that involves many small individuals, caught between trying to survive at the moment and preserving their past for the future.

Oh brilliance!

Why so elusive?
Where can I find you?

studyblr... i need motivation

The simple fact is that people who achieve excellence in their fields didn’t just have a dream. They got up at 4:00 am to practice on parallel bars or had to forgo other desirable activities and paths in order to get in six hours of violin practice a day, or stayed off several million absurd writing advice blogs with their overheated little cliques that dispense useless regurgitated maxims and empty praise and decide to actually confront their own thoughts on a page. Or they read Beowulf and Dante carefully and deeply when they didn’t see any point, since all they were interested in was Sylvia Plath, because someone of more experience and wisdom told them to do so. I don’t know whether we’re overly lazy, stupid, or childish these days. But the idea of preparing oneself for excellence has somehow disappeared. So – my advice to dreamers: Don’t just follow your dreams. Earn them. Do what it takes to achieve it. Work for it. Don’t just sit there and dream because if you do, it will never, ever be yours.

- Harrison Solow, Don’t Follow Your Dream

***

I am going to succeed because I am crazy enough to think I can.

***

Why do you think those two are hugging and crying? my resident asks as we watch our attending embrace a man about his age. It’s because one year ago that patient was given four months to live. I saw him then, he looked like he was on his deathbed.
No one knew what he had
But our attending figured it out. He diagnosed him.
It was a rare form of leukemia.

You know it’s rare when Google’s feeble attempts to help out only turns up a handful of journal articles.

Do you know how he knew?
He read an article about it a few weeks before.
Everyone laughed at him, but he remembered that article and demanded we run the tests.
Turns out, he was right.
Never forget, reading saves lives.

To the first years, just staring out your med school journey, not sure why they signed up for this. To those who just finished boards, and never want to pick up a text book again. To the premeds, who just want to finish up their pre reqs and get to medical school already. To the spouses, who wonder if they will ever see their significant others without a textbook again.
This is why we do it.
This is why we stay up past our bedtimes.
And wake up before the sun.
This is why we memorize overly complicated pathways until we can do them in our sleep. Why we can name every class of antibiotic, even those no one uses anymore. This is why we push ourselves to be better every day than we were the last.
Why we put our lives on hold.
Not for more letters to put behind our name.
Not for some number on a score sheet.
Not because mom told us to.
We do it because one day, a day that will occur far faster than we are ready for, we’ll have our own patients. One day someone will come in and ask you “so doc, what is it.” And you’ll say to yourself, I know this.

So when the tediousness of studying gets you down, don’t forget:
Reading saves lives.