Why People Travel

I never did the post-college whirlwind travel of the world: carefree backpacking through Europe, trekking around Asia, or mingling with locals. In some ways, I wish I had; I see pictures of my friends in exotic locations, seeing astounding wonders of nature, eating foods I've never heard of. They seem to be swimming in human experience, breaking out of bubble after bubble, driving after the unknown and miraculous.

Perhaps this is merely a compensatory attempt at justifying my life, but medical school is not so different than traveling. We see a different reflection of the human experience, and I think it really extends beyond that of simply illness and disability. We see how people cope, we see how families band together, we see how the human body perseverates. I've seen grief, elation, deception, anger, acceptance. The breadth and depth of the human mind and body in this respect is only recognized by those who go through it and their caretakers.

Not everyone cares to chat with the woman who finds out she is pregnant (which can lead to shock, disbelief, or relief), convince the transgender to share some of his or her personal life with a stranger, or listen impartially to a victim of abuse or even the perpetrator. But I love it. Health is the great equalizer. I've met high-powered Stanford MBAs struggling with mental health issues and illegal immigrants whose sprained ankle may mean they can't feed their families.

And on the other hand, I've seen residents awake after delivering a dozen babies, still working up another patient. I've seen professors delve into complex patients, security guards subdue schizophrenics, therapists get someone bed bound for months back on their feet. I've seen nurses respond to a witnessed seizure in the hallway, emergency doctors rush a gurney being wheeled in, chaplains making their rounds from patient to patient.

The hospital may not have beautiful monuments or breathtaking landscapes, but it is a travel of sorts, the kind that wades deep into human emotion, that challenges human experience, and that ultimately reaffirms some sort of meaning to our living.

The image is a picture of the Radcliffe Camera and All Souls College at Oxford. I took it in England, fall of 2004.