“It is health that is real wealth and not the pieces of gold and silver” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Sometimes I wondered what it meant to be a Doctor
How it felt to save lives,
Sometimes I wonder how the days go by
With revolving doors of needs
“Show me where it hurts,” they say
With people in hope that they run away from pain
Gasping,
In anticipation
For what seems…uncertain
Sometimes I wonder what it means to take the responsibility
Of saving someone’s life
When will you give up on the person?
When is your work sufficient?
Sometimes I wonder how it feels,
To say that maybe the doctor could not do any much better
That maybe now you should look to the heavens
And perhaps pray for a miracle
Sometimes I wonder how it feels,
To hold that prestige
With long nights and short days
With lost relationships and short lived friendships
To those that didn’t understand your dream
To those that didn’t understand your lifestyle
Sometimes I wonder how it feels,
To experience failure in the profession
Because mistakes are part of the lessons
But it is expected to be flawless
Laying out all the information consumed from school
But are we not humans and not gods?
Sometimes I wondered how it feels,
When you ask yourself why you became one
Doubting your own abilities
Because someone will always be smarter than you,
Someone will always make you feel…incompetent
Because you might want to embrace another lifestyle
Because the person that started this journey is now changed
The transformation was not planned
Will this be called courage to let go?
Or coward to give up?
Sometimes I wonder how it feels,
To meet the flaws of the system
To experience the world differently
To question your perspective
To change your thinking
Sometimes I wonder how it feels to be a doctor
To take on the burden of education
And to educate with a burden
That the better you become,
The more you will be sought after
And the seeker becomes a hunter
I respect the field,
Not because of the wages,
But with all the responsibilities that come with it
And for those that strife to fight
With every drop of blood in them
To fight for a cause
To fight for something they believe in
Because at the end
They know how it feels to be a Doctor,
To cater to the needs
To serve
To improve
To remain sane when things get ugly
To be the North Star in times of despair
Because life itself is…sometimes unpredictable.
©Kihek
Kimberly Ihekwoaba 