“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein
Growing up, I’d say I had an average amount of empathy. I was a sensitive child, but as far as empathy, my ability to relate to and feel the emotions of others, was pretty average. It was not until I went into medicine, that this ability to sense other’s emotions really blossomed. And I fully believe this is from observing my mentors. During my 8 years of training (10 if you include pre-med where I did a lot of observation!), I observed, precepted with, learned from, and assisted hundreds of attending physicians. I have never met a group of humans that has cared so much for others, often in sacrifice of their own needs and comfort. I have seen surgeons perform laborious surgeries going into the double digit hours, hospitalists go for days without leaving the hospital or eating a proper meal, GPs sobbing when a long-time patient passes, pediatricians literally giving the jackets off their backs to their young patients. It is from these mentors that I have learned that understanding and feeling someone else’s circumstances and emotions is true gift. And the more empathy that you have, the more connected as a human you will be…. And the more complete life you will live.
Day after day, I see my colleagues working in the best interest of others, without pause – it is instinctual. They have risen up in this pandemic – volunteering in COVID specific units and traveling to hospitals in NYC, Seattle and New Orleans to volunteer. In fact, I applied to volunteer in NYC during a 5-day period that I had off… only to find out they had enough volunteers already. Who else does this? Sacrifices himself, without compensation or recognition, to act as a human shield for others? It is incredible, and I am humbled. It makes me want to be a better doctor, and it has inspired me to be a better and more empathetic human, volunteer, and citizen of the world. It is humanity embodied. I am so grateful to call physicians my colleagues…those that are able to see the dangers in life, and do something about it.