Sunday, 01 March 2009

• How to Save the World

  
  Interviewer: What do you like to do in your free time? What do you do when you're stressed out?
  
  Me: I like to write. I keep a journal in which I often reflect about the day and what has happened. It helps me relieve stress and put things into perspective, and improve on myself.
  
  Interviewer: And do you believe you'll have time to continue this as a medical student and a physician?
  
  Me: Oh yes, of course!
  
  I was so naive. I understand why they smiled at me with that "oh yeah? really?" challenging tone. They called my bluff. They knew I'd have to make some sacrifices. However, perhaps I've made the wrong sacrifices.
  
  Not to say that I do not write anymore at all. I do. Not necessarily in this blog, but in the Other Blog occasionally, and the Old Blog. Med school has just made it difficult for me to blog as much as I'd like to. The monotony of studying day after day brings little attention to those moments in life where you really get fixated on something worth contemplating about. That plus the fact that Biochemistry has consumed some of that reflective opportunity away from causal reflection by making it more or less a chore. But I still liked that. I'll greatly miss Biochemistry 1501 and 1502, but now I'm more than happy to have back my freedom to reflect on my own accord.
  
  I suppose I somewhat understand and empathize with the conservative Republican standpoint now. The idea that we are all individuals that should have the freedom to do what we want to do without anyone telling us to do it has some validity assuming that our intentions are of benefit to the society as a whole and not entirely selfish. And yet, I really think most human beings are quite selfish or rather more inclined to focus on self-interests when given the freedom to. It has almost a bit of a social Darwinistic "survival of the fittest" ring to it, which is ironic considering that perhaps most conservatives do not believe in evolution.
  
  I have to say that, lately, I have been pretty fed up with the extreme bickering back and forth from liberals and conservatives concerning the way the country should be run. Now I admit that I don't think I know much about the ideologies. I've only gotten into thinking about politics since medical school started. But this is how I see it:
  
  The liberal philosophy is to channel wealth from taxpayers to provide for a basic programs and programs for those not so fortunate in the event of an emergency. It is like saying that the government should be like parents who help out their children by taking some of their spending freedom away from them so that they can guide them with what they need, and come to the rescue when a few of the siblings get into some trouble. The cost here is the individual freedom of the children to use the potential of their earnings at their discretion and learn from their mistakes when things don't go right. It's like still being attached to the umbilical cord, all pampered and spoiled with the security of papa government. Sure, we're all protected from failure, but we do so by limiting our personal success. Not only that, but we may be forced to do this unwillingly.
  
  The conservative philosophy relies a lot on the faith that people as individuals are kind, generous, and unselfish. The philosophy calls for the umbilical cord to be severed, and the children are allowed to follow their dreams, whatever they may be, without having to deal with parents telling them how to live their dreams the "right" way. The children do not get told to play nice with their brother or sister. Rather it is on good faith that they will not fall into selfishness and help out their siblings in their time of need. Oh yes, because we're all such perfect people like that when given the freedom to abandon others' needs in the prospects of personal gain and self-fulfillment. The problem here is this: if just one of the children is "evil" by nature and completely takes advantage of all the others, there's no parental control preventing the fighting that ensues. The evil ones have placed the parents in a retirement home, forever neglected by all the children. But surely, that won't happen because when people are allowed to focus on what they want to do, their personal agenda will positively affect those around them in the end anyways, right?
  
  To ponder further though, can it really be possible for self-interests to cancel each other other such that it positively influences the interests of all of those in the society? I doubt it. If we all focus on our own individual agendas in hopes that it will indirectly improve the lives of others, doing so is almost like painting a picture in hopes that a blind person will be able to see it or composing some song in hopes that a deaf person will be able to hear it.
  
  Allowing people to spend their time and money only on what they want to do is limiting in that they are not given the opportunity to get out of their bubble and see just what else they can do with their talent. And it is not that people do not CARE, rather it is because they don't KNOW. They are not allowed the opportunity to empathize without the knowledge and experience of what is happening on the other side of their bubble. And what goes on, on the outside, should be of concern to them because what happens on the outside is most often responsible for popping the bubble. *cue evil child with a pointing finger...POP!*
  
  Sure, we can rely on the faith that all people have the potential to be heroes that can save the world on their own accord, provided that they KNOW about the world and what needs saving. For this reason, these potential heroes need something to open up their eyes to the world, a mentor of some sort that provides opportunity for one to realize a greater purpose for the abilities we all have. For this reason we need a parental government to guide the children at first, but almost important is the need for the parents to let go of their child when he or she is ready to save the world on their own and also realize that the children can always come back to papa government when they have been dealt with kryptonite. They are always there to open you up to the world and its mysteries, hardships, and solutions...but in the end, it is up to YOU to travel the world and do something amazing for it.
  
  I remarked earlier how much I disliked Biochemistry 1502 for forcing me to reflect on health care issues for the sake of my grade rather than allowing me to reflect on my own by my own motivation, but now I realize that because of the discussions and reflections I was forced to partake in, I now have a new area of interest worth reflecting. It's not enough for me to reflect about my everyday life anymore. There's so much more beyond this bubble I've been living in. There's a much greater world out there, and I can't imagine how I would have ever discovered so much of this world sooner without such a catalyst.
  
  To give someone abilities, you need a formula. To make the formula work, you need a catalyst. To make a hero out of one with a great ability, you need to show them the world. To make a person out of the hero, you need to let them use their abilities in good faith that they will be no less than amazing.
  
  I could go on of course, because I just love writing about Heroes. But I fear that I have digressed and unleashed enough reflection for today. But I'm glad for writing this. I know more about where I stand now. I'm not a liberal or a conservative. I'm a little bit of both. I'm a little bit of neither. I think we can all save the world if we work together putting our differences aside while embracing them at the same time.
  
  Time to gain some knowledge about the world now and live my life to my heart's content.
  
  

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