“The question is not how much does the youth know whenhe has finished his education, but how much does he care. ”Charlotte Mason
I spent the better part of my twenties pursuing a dream. I slept very little and because of my tendency toward creativity (back then scrapbooking) I finished a lot of scrapbooks in the 90′s. Back then, my classmates called me “Martha”. I think that was due to the inevitable baking frenzy that would ensue when there was a Gross Anatomy test looming. Later, my patients would come to call me Dr. Edie—-kinda like Dr. Laura—-but with a southern drawl and more eye makeup.
I was drawn to medicine for many reasons but often I wonder if it wasn’t my own need for ‘healing’ that kept me going when I felt my head would explode from too much input and too little rest. Turns out, I was right. Those in the healing profession tend to broken albeit highly motivated people. And though I’m not practicing my art at present, I would never trade the gift I was given of taking the Hippocratic Oath and vowing first and foremost to ‘do no harm’. It is a privilege and a responsibility that I don’t take lightly. My patients taught me so much about what it means to truly care for someone else and that we never move past the need to stretch and learn and grow. What a paradox, to find the path to my own healing, in the quest to serve others. But that principle has its’ roots in the One great Healer—without whom there is no life.
Thirteen years of school and training (after high school) will fill your head with more facts than you could ever hope to remember. But what does it do to your heart? This nearly twenty year journey has left its’ mark on me. I am a different person in many ways but as I find myself in this medium of blogging, I find it strikingly familiar. In search of wholeness, we share our stories with each other, laying open our hearts with its’ hurts and wounds, praying that our story will find resonance and be a wellspring of hope and healing to ourselves and to others.
And in my mind, I find myself held by a vow here too—- to first ‘do no harm’. I also find that it’s a ‘privilege and responsibility that I don’t take lightly’. We all have stresses and conflicts and pain but I want this to be a place that will help you in your journey toward healing. It is the least I can do for the joy and inspiration and nourishment that you have brought to my heart.
So, in answer to the most frequent question in my inbox, “Don’t you miss working? How could you give up a career in medicine after working so hard to get it?”
Yes, I miss it. More accurately, I miss them—-the people who trusted me to care for their families. But I’m not sure this is altogether different. It’s all about relationship. And I am so thankful for you and for this online version of a very therapeutic relationship that has been such a source of growth and healing for me. They taught us in medical school that ‘people don’t care how much you know till they know how much you care’. It turns out to be true in most aspects of life.
Thank you for the way you have cared for me and my family. We pray blessings on you in return, from the One who gives perfect life, perfect peace, perfect healing.
by edie
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