Six years ago this summer, a person I can't even remember said something that has stayed with me for many years. Mix in some self-reflection with this piece of invaluable life advice and you've got yourself the perfect recipe for an anecdotal bit like this one.
A couple hundred kids gathered from across the nation came together for a medical conference. Neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, ENT physicians--you name it, there were at least a dozen people aspiring to be it. However, less and less people openly claimed to be on a research (err--pharmacology) path after we sat through a lecture on the pharmaceutical industry. Your patience was tried after the course on bedside manner, and a lawyer's snoozefest did more hurt than help (but if the person's intent was to scare the few people who were actually interested in malpractice law, it was a smashing success). At the end of each course, the group of surgeon hopefuls claimed a couple new members. By session's end, most people decided that they wanted to fix people but not talk to them--well, that or become a dermatologist.
In between the professional classes the program allowed for leadership/character development conferences. Commanding the forum was a small figure in the front who jokingly asked the crowd, "How many of your parents would be surprised if you embraced them for no reason at all?" Most everyone's hands shot up and a decent portion of the room began to roll their eyes and laugh. Suddenly the speaker became serious. She went on to explain that our parents were marginally important in this question because our responses said more about ourselves than they did about our parents. At that moment everyone slowly lowered their hands and fell silent as a pang of shame swept the room.
Clouds of melancholy may roll in (attn gv), but the speaker's words helps drive them away. When the shoe is on the other foot and I want nothing more than to conjure up a storm of melancholy for someone who has wronged me, the mystery woman's words assuage.
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