Don't ask, but I need to know if you like feet... so.... Do you? DO YOU!!!? It's for an aesthetics editorial, a plastic surgery kind of thing. Here's a single question, if you wouldn't mind answering:
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand." - Woodrow Wilson
Saw this quote in an email and didn't want to forget it.
I've always been afraid that trudging through med school would stomp out the compassion and idealism in me. It's definitely easy to fall complacent in this day-to-day life, with our passion for service and community steadily echoing away... to be shelved as an afterthought that would (hopefully) return to mind after we happily receive our MDs. So I study. I go to work. I write emails. I feed my fish once in a while. I watch TV. Heck, I play Scrabulous all day long.
And then there's always some event that makes your stomach jump into your throat. A reminder from the past. Yesterday I received news from a contact in Vietnam that a friend of mine just passed away... died. From liver cancer. He was a middle-aged Vietnamese man who dedicated his life to helping street children (as he had been one himself) as well as young adults with HIV/AIDS. From the beginning, he welcomed me to this life of service, enabling me to participate and to also make a difference. He enriched my experience of being in Vietnam, my sense of life's purpose. And even though he was half a world away and I'd been away from Vietnam for over two years, his passing still stuns and saddens me.
I saw the Dalai Lama last week (Ithaca, NY) - the epitome of acceptance, compassion, balance, enlightenment, humility.... and, oh, "radical informality," which jokingly results from being a cute old Tibetan monk in monk clothing humbly trespassing onto stiff cultural territory in a foreign land (like in England where they have "Lords"). He wears those rather wide and endearing leather old person's shoes with big shoe laces that one day I'll hopefully get to wear when I get as old (or as wise) as he. He was asked to speak about the "Human Approach to World Peace," which he eventually addressed after warming the entire 5-10,000 person audience with is improptu greetings, humble jokes, and laughter.
I guess what brings these stories together is a simple thread of humility and service that I want to maintain in my life, for both self-fulfillment as well as the good of those around me. I don't want this thread to break due to blatant inattention. With this blog, I consider myself reminded.
Saw this quote in an email and didn't want to forget it.
I've always been afraid that trudging through med school would stomp out the compassion and idealism in me. It's definitely easy to fall complacent in this day-to-day life, with our passion for service and community steadily echoing away... to be shelved as an afterthought that would (hopefully) return to mind after we happily receive our MDs. So I study. I go to work. I write emails. I feed my fish once in a while. I watch TV. Heck, I play Scrabulous all day long.
And then there's always some event that makes your stomach jump into your throat. A reminder from the past. Yesterday I received news from a contact in Vietnam that a friend of mine just passed away... died. From liver cancer. He was a middle-aged Vietnamese man who dedicated his life to helping street children (as he had been one himself) as well as young adults with HIV/AIDS. From the beginning, he welcomed me to this life of service, enabling me to participate and to also make a difference. He enriched my experience of being in Vietnam, my sense of life's purpose. And even though he was half a world away and I'd been away from Vietnam for over two years, his passing still stuns and saddens me.
I saw the Dalai Lama last week (Ithaca, NY) - the epitome of acceptance, compassion, balance, enlightenment, humility.... and, oh, "radical informality," which jokingly results from being a cute old Tibetan monk in monk clothing humbly trespassing onto stiff cultural territory in a foreign land (like in England where they have "Lords"). He wears those rather wide and endearing leather old person's shoes with big shoe laces that one day I'll hopefully get to wear when I get as old (or as wise) as he. He was asked to speak about the "Human Approach to World Peace," which he eventually addressed after warming the entire 5-10,000 person audience with is improptu greetings, humble jokes, and laughter.
I guess what brings these stories together is a simple thread of humility and service that I want to maintain in my life, for both self-fulfillment as well as the good of those around me. I don't want this thread to break due to blatant inattention. With this blog, I consider myself reminded.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Muffin Joke
Dangz, looks like I passed up a year of med school fodder to post about on this blogspot... oh well! So let me tell you my favorite muffin joke.
- Two English muffins are sitting in the toaster. (They are English, mind you, so they of course have British accents).
- One English muffins says, "Blimey! It's getting hot in here!"
- The other English muffin screams, "Bloody hell! A talking muffin!!!" (Notice the three exclamation points).
I'm rolling on the (library) floor laughing right now. Note that the written commentary in the parentheses are not to be said outloud. Ok, I know many of you have heard me tell this joke before and have repressed the memory, but comon now, they have British accents!
Another victory. Aaaah, feels good;)
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