In many cultures it is said that you die twice. First, when your body leaves this earthly plane. Second, when there is no one left that loves you to utter your name on their lips. On this day of the dead, many cultures have ceremonies to remember and honor their ancestors, visits to graveyards to …Read More
Category: Journal
Drinking water from a firehose
It’s 9am as I enter the back of the lecture hall. I glance towards my usual seat — left side, off center, four rows back. I pause at the top of the steps. My eyes adjust to the dim of the indoor lights against the dark industrial carpet. From the back of the lecture hall, …Read More
Wall of Shame
First, I want to say, it was not my idea. It’s common practice, we all did it. You apply to top schools, a couple in the middle tier, and some safety that you know you can get into. We were all graduating from college. I was applying to medical school along with a few others, …Read More
Don’t go back to sleep ~ Rumi
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.Don’t go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want.Don’t go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsillwhere the two worlds touch. The door is round and open.Don’t go back to sleep. ~ Rumi I woke up this morning …Read More
“Doc, I never drink…”
I was working at Miami Veteran’s Hospital as an intern, wet behind the ears, newly minted physician… and trying to figure out the worlds of my patients. Part of the medical history screens for alcohol abuse. “How much do you drink?” I ask. “Well, every day I buy a case of beer.” Suddenly his face …Read More
Democracy is supported by its people
When asked what to tell people who don’t vote because they don’t feel like their vote matters, Rachel Brown says, “Do more than vote! Not voting is not the answer. Do more than vote.” She encourages her millennial generation to get involved in politics. She herself recently ran for public office. Democracy depends on its …Read More
Measuring Life
How do you measure a life? “Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.” I start the hike in essential silence. What is that you say? It is the space of deep introspection where you can still manage to yell out to your friend, “Don’t …Read More
To Know the Dark ~ Wendell Berry
To Know the Dark by Wendell Berry To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings. I’ve only seen it once, and only by accident. It was …Read More
Honor Flight, Honoring Veterans
“This has been the most meaningful day of my life,” said one veteran. At the time, he was 100 years old. Honor Flight had brought him to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. He had been chosen by the group to lay the wreath on the memorial to honor those lives that had …Read More
“Doc, will you help me die?”
It was my first day on service at the hospital ward. I had a list of patients already admitted from the previous doctor. For the next week, I would be responsible for their care. I read over the electronic charts of the first three patients. Then, with white coat, stethoscope, and a few notes, I …Read More