Smarty pants? I think not..
I know lots of people.. and they know lots of other people.. and these other people know lots of other people.. plus the fact that my parents know lots of people.. and these people know lots of other people.. and of course, these other people know lots of other people.. (Sorry, got a little carried away with that one..) My point is, I get to meet lots of people, whether I'm in Malaysia or I'm in the UK.
The beauty of meeting new people is well, meeting new people. (not in the most eloquent state today) Unfortunately, when we first make new acquaintances, you open up a whole new avenue for judgement, purely based on what you appear to be, and of course, what you say. I've always said that living in this modern world, judgement is inevitable, so I'm not too bothered about it.
Having said that, I believe that the reason I'm not that distressed about being judged by my 'cover' is because my answer to the orthodoxed second-question-upon-meeting-someone is an extremely impressive one - afterwards, usually responded to by a wow, ooh, aah or gasp. (Ok, so it would have just been simpler to type out the actual question "So what do you study?" rather than go on and on, but hey, I've never been known to be concise. Ok, digressing. By the way, the answer to that is "Medicine.") Hold on, let me clarify. I don't think it's impressive at all, but apparently the rest of mankind thinks that it is.
I strongly believe that doctors (and hence, medical students) are overglorified. We are perceived as being extremely smart, highly intellectual and of supreme character - purely based on the profession that we've chosen to follow. (I could go on listing the many ways in which doctors are great, as said to me by people I've met, but that's not the point of this entry)
The thing is, I admit that obviously, there are many highly-qualified and brilliant doctors out there, and most of the ones I've encountered through my clinical experience have been amazing. However, there are equally as many intelligent and accomplished scientists, engineers, lawyers, accountants and more. So why is it then, that doctors are perceived to be superior to others? Why is it, that doctors are regarded as admirable superhumans? Yes, it is a noble job, but not that many people I know are really doing it for the greater good. At the end of the day, we're all just doing our jobs. A doctor's job, just so happens to be saving lives.
The reason I've brought this up is this: I believe that many people, especially medical students, abuse this knowledge. Because society has constantly made us believe that medical students are far smarter than any other student, we are beginning to accept that too. As a result of this, medical students are becoming increasingly arrogant and truly believe that we are superior to the rest of mankind. It's almost as if God himself hand-picked us from a world of mere mortals and made us supreme.
Yes, doctors do work very hard to be good at what they do. Not many other professionals need to be on-call for 24 hours; need to study for 5 long years before qualifying, followed by another 5-10 years to become fully competent; need to cram their brains with voluminous amounts of information all the time (since medicine is, irrefutably, the hardest subject to study) and most important of all, are responsible for another human being's life.
But other people work hard too.. I personally, admire nurses and teachers, for their nobility and virtue. Pilots and transport drivers hold the lives of the public in their hands too, and thus have to be vigilent in what they do. We wouldn't survive if it wasn't for contractors, carpenters, electricians and plumbers and they are often forgotten. Life without cashiers, janitors and porters would be difficult too, and so would life without rubbish collectors, sewage workers and road cleaners.
So the question is: Why is it that being a doctor (and hence, a medical student) is basis enough for us to be considered preponderant? More importantly, why is it that this is basis enough for us to be an egotistical, conceited and pompous lot who look down on others considered inferior to us?
The beauty of meeting new people is well, meeting new people. (not in the most eloquent state today) Unfortunately, when we first make new acquaintances, you open up a whole new avenue for judgement, purely based on what you appear to be, and of course, what you say. I've always said that living in this modern world, judgement is inevitable, so I'm not too bothered about it.
Having said that, I believe that the reason I'm not that distressed about being judged by my 'cover' is because my answer to the orthodoxed second-question-upon-meeting-someone is an extremely impressive one - afterwards, usually responded to by a wow, ooh, aah or gasp. (Ok, so it would have just been simpler to type out the actual question "So what do you study?" rather than go on and on, but hey, I've never been known to be concise. Ok, digressing. By the way, the answer to that is "Medicine.") Hold on, let me clarify. I don't think it's impressive at all, but apparently the rest of mankind thinks that it is.
I strongly believe that doctors (and hence, medical students) are overglorified. We are perceived as being extremely smart, highly intellectual and of supreme character - purely based on the profession that we've chosen to follow. (I could go on listing the many ways in which doctors are great, as said to me by people I've met, but that's not the point of this entry)
The thing is, I admit that obviously, there are many highly-qualified and brilliant doctors out there, and most of the ones I've encountered through my clinical experience have been amazing. However, there are equally as many intelligent and accomplished scientists, engineers, lawyers, accountants and more. So why is it then, that doctors are perceived to be superior to others? Why is it, that doctors are regarded as admirable superhumans? Yes, it is a noble job, but not that many people I know are really doing it for the greater good. At the end of the day, we're all just doing our jobs. A doctor's job, just so happens to be saving lives.
The reason I've brought this up is this: I believe that many people, especially medical students, abuse this knowledge. Because society has constantly made us believe that medical students are far smarter than any other student, we are beginning to accept that too. As a result of this, medical students are becoming increasingly arrogant and truly believe that we are superior to the rest of mankind. It's almost as if God himself hand-picked us from a world of mere mortals and made us supreme.
Yes, doctors do work very hard to be good at what they do. Not many other professionals need to be on-call for 24 hours; need to study for 5 long years before qualifying, followed by another 5-10 years to become fully competent; need to cram their brains with voluminous amounts of information all the time (since medicine is, irrefutably, the hardest subject to study) and most important of all, are responsible for another human being's life.
But other people work hard too.. I personally, admire nurses and teachers, for their nobility and virtue. Pilots and transport drivers hold the lives of the public in their hands too, and thus have to be vigilent in what they do. We wouldn't survive if it wasn't for contractors, carpenters, electricians and plumbers and they are often forgotten. Life without cashiers, janitors and porters would be difficult too, and so would life without rubbish collectors, sewage workers and road cleaners.
So the question is: Why is it that being a doctor (and hence, a medical student) is basis enough for us to be considered preponderant? More importantly, why is it that this is basis enough for us to be an egotistical, conceited and pompous lot who look down on others considered inferior to us?
posted by Jean at 8:39 PM
1 Comments:
nod nod nod.
i used to date a medical student with that kind of 'i'm a doctor and i'm cleverer, smarter than you'. this kind of attitude makes me wonder what kind of a doctor he'll turn out to be eventually.
obviously the relationship ended after a while. you can't stick around with people who think too highly of themselves.
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