It's easy to get lost in the shuffle of daily life and forget just how much you have.
This rotation I'm in a very rural area with a very high poverty rate. It hits me over the head pretty often that I am incredibly fortunate.
For example: I own an iDevice. Usually I make my grocery list on it. This week I opted to copy it onto a piece of paper because it is incredibly rude (in my view) to flaunt that wealth here. Half of people don't have cars and people live very spread out, sometimes an hour from town (where there's a grocery store, one restaurant, a gas station, post office, and two churches). The post office here is the trailer that has a blue mailbox in front of it, and it's in slightly better shape than almost everywhere people live around here. This is not saying all that much. I spent $30 on supplementary groceries (milk, meat, cheese, frozen green beans, hand soap) and got about half what I would at home. No wonder everyone is broke. There is a wall of canned meat. 10 feet across the bottom and at least 12 feet up. I couldn't find any plain chicken breasts in the store, but I saw the price tag and it was double what I'd pay at home. Chicken thighs with the fattiest skin I've ever seen were on sale for a nearly affordable price.
There is no internet at my place but I can go visit some neighbors and plug into their internet. It's patchy and reasonably slow (no streaming video is possible) but it connects. It's the fastest around here by far, probably double what most people have access to. I have a computer and it works and I get to use it to connect to the world and apply for jobs.
I have this incredibly huge floppy sun hat that I wear when I walk to work. It's objectively hideous in olive green and I love it because it keeps the sun off of my face and I can skip the sunblock since it's UV protective. It blocks my peripheral vision almost totally though. I can see only what's in front of me when I wear it. Then I get to work and take the thing off and I get it. The blinders are off and I see the pack of stray dogs and the spirit behind the people who have a hard time keeping hope.
It's beautiful and raw and painful and hopeful all in a single glance. The blinders are off and my vision has expanded. Privilege checked.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
The Waiting Place
On my first day of high school, our principal sat us all down in the gym for some various "rah rah welcome to high school" announcements and such. Then our principal read us the Dr. Seuss book Oh The Places You'll Go. It was a nice reminder that we were in charge of our destiny based on what we did with each day.
I also have fond memories of our principal announcing it was time for classes in the morning 5 minutes before the first bell, first yelling to everyone lounging in the cafeteria and then to everyone just off campus lurking while smoking. Ah to be young and idiotic with few consequences...
But I digress. Ever since then, I have loved Oh The Places You'll Go. If anyone had read it to me or I'd read it before that first day of high school, I don't remember it. I'm sure someone got me a copy when I finished high school (maybe even my parents) and I have it somewhere or other in physical form. I also have the audio book and I've pulled that out to listen to it a few times lately. The part that strikes me now is so different from what I'd caught reading it before.
The Waiting Place.
I'm actively (mostly) looking for jobs and applying to things and have an upcoming interview. I miraculously got several residency interviews and am about to submit my ranking for the match. This match business is a complex way of ensuring that as many people as possible fill residencies and get offers. You might have heard about medical school residency matches and it's the same deal but their match day is the week before ours. First the applications happen, then the interviews (long interviews, some with several panels of interviewers, most with at least one presentation and sometimes multiple presentations, some with pop quizzes even), then everyone ranks (places you interviewed and people you interviewed, depending on if you're a candidate or a program), then there's some magic behind the scenes, and on March 20th the results are released. Hopefully I get a third miracle and match, but if I don't, I'm honestly not that stressed out about what will happen after that. (The first miracle was a single interview, the second was MULTIPLE interviews, at about half the places I applied, because WHOA that really happened and I am so fortunate to have this chance to seize.)
It is such a strange place, to be waiting. I look forward to the Boom Bands at the end of the Waiting Place. I am trusting that this is a moment in time and on the other side is whatever awesomeness comes next. Because this is certainly Another Chance and I am going to seize it.
To quote The Seuss:
The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
NO!
That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.
For all of you out there who find yourself waiting, I hope you discover the bright places soon and get to enjoy whatever you discover in the newfound light.
I also have fond memories of our principal announcing it was time for classes in the morning 5 minutes before the first bell, first yelling to everyone lounging in the cafeteria and then to everyone just off campus lurking while smoking. Ah to be young and idiotic with few consequences...
But I digress. Ever since then, I have loved Oh The Places You'll Go. If anyone had read it to me or I'd read it before that first day of high school, I don't remember it. I'm sure someone got me a copy when I finished high school (maybe even my parents) and I have it somewhere or other in physical form. I also have the audio book and I've pulled that out to listen to it a few times lately. The part that strikes me now is so different from what I'd caught reading it before.
The Waiting Place.
I'm actively (mostly) looking for jobs and applying to things and have an upcoming interview. I miraculously got several residency interviews and am about to submit my ranking for the match. This match business is a complex way of ensuring that as many people as possible fill residencies and get offers. You might have heard about medical school residency matches and it's the same deal but their match day is the week before ours. First the applications happen, then the interviews (long interviews, some with several panels of interviewers, most with at least one presentation and sometimes multiple presentations, some with pop quizzes even), then everyone ranks (places you interviewed and people you interviewed, depending on if you're a candidate or a program), then there's some magic behind the scenes, and on March 20th the results are released. Hopefully I get a third miracle and match, but if I don't, I'm honestly not that stressed out about what will happen after that. (The first miracle was a single interview, the second was MULTIPLE interviews, at about half the places I applied, because WHOA that really happened and I am so fortunate to have this chance to seize.)
It is such a strange place, to be waiting. I look forward to the Boom Bands at the end of the Waiting Place. I am trusting that this is a moment in time and on the other side is whatever awesomeness comes next. Because this is certainly Another Chance and I am going to seize it.
To quote The Seuss:
The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
NO!
That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.
For all of you out there who find yourself waiting, I hope you discover the bright places soon and get to enjoy whatever you discover in the newfound light.
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