Well, folks, the Rapture has come to pass and I am still here. Best I make the most of it, right? It is quite likely that God said "That's it! I was going to start the Rapture on May 21st, but now that some guy down there thinks he knows the hour and the day, I'm not going to do it. They'll just have to wait!" However, I still can't help admitting that all the hoopla was a cause for reflection for me. And I did so, in the middle of a Keynote address at a Microbiology conference in New Orleans. Somewhere between being mired in the grandeur of gut microbiology and considering whether or not I agreed that Lamarck was right, I thought about my meager existence. For a split second. And when the ground didn't open up and swallow NOLA whole--Po' Boys, Hurricanes, Beignets, Chicory coffee and all--I forgot about it. But then, being surrounded by really smart people, I began to reflect once more. (Of course, one trip down Bourbon Street and the smartness disintegrated in a hurry).
We hear quite often in my line of work that we cannot and will not accept nothing but the "best of the best." Now, having been raised in a Catholic household, and knowing that humility is a virtue, I sometimes have trouble dealing with that assertion. Am I the "best of the best?" Are you? Do you think you should be even if others do not? This is a source of real angst. But the truth is, importance and relevance are in the eyes of the beholder. At one time, I did not have the letters PhD after my name. At one time, I had the letters RT(R) after my name. And although most people recognize the former more often than the latter, I can't help but wonder if I deserved the title "best of the best" more when I was working the floor in a level 2 trauma center trying my best to be part of a team. All guts. No need for glory.
Now with a different set of letters after my name, it seems that people expect a deeper level of thought on my part. And I do think deeply when it matters. But let's face it, I'm just a girl in the world. Do I want to ponder the origins of the universe just because the letters PhD suggest I should? Not really. Do I want to think about better ways to think about how to think? Not particularly. Sometimes it is quite satisfying to just not think at all. Have you ever done that? One of my favorite things to do growing up was to sit by the kitchen window, early in the morning, and just look and listen. I enjoyed hearing the morning doves who-who-who back and forth. I got a kick out of watching squirrels decide if they had gathered enough acorns, or if they should try to grab one more for the road. Better yet were those mornings that had a light rain falling, and maybe a little whisper of thunder. Nothing too scary. Just enough pat-pat-pat on the leaves. Just enough to bring my Dad's rain meter up a notch. Just enough to lull me back to sleep. That is what I long for and that is what I think about most often. Not exactly a Nobel-prize winning moment. But my moment nonetheless. What's your moment?
We hear quite often in my line of work that we cannot and will not accept nothing but the "best of the best." Now, having been raised in a Catholic household, and knowing that humility is a virtue, I sometimes have trouble dealing with that assertion. Am I the "best of the best?" Are you? Do you think you should be even if others do not? This is a source of real angst. But the truth is, importance and relevance are in the eyes of the beholder. At one time, I did not have the letters PhD after my name. At one time, I had the letters RT(R) after my name. And although most people recognize the former more often than the latter, I can't help but wonder if I deserved the title "best of the best" more when I was working the floor in a level 2 trauma center trying my best to be part of a team. All guts. No need for glory.
Now with a different set of letters after my name, it seems that people expect a deeper level of thought on my part. And I do think deeply when it matters. But let's face it, I'm just a girl in the world. Do I want to ponder the origins of the universe just because the letters PhD suggest I should? Not really. Do I want to think about better ways to think about how to think? Not particularly. Sometimes it is quite satisfying to just not think at all. Have you ever done that? One of my favorite things to do growing up was to sit by the kitchen window, early in the morning, and just look and listen. I enjoyed hearing the morning doves who-who-who back and forth. I got a kick out of watching squirrels decide if they had gathered enough acorns, or if they should try to grab one more for the road. Better yet were those mornings that had a light rain falling, and maybe a little whisper of thunder. Nothing too scary. Just enough pat-pat-pat on the leaves. Just enough to bring my Dad's rain meter up a notch. Just enough to lull me back to sleep. That is what I long for and that is what I think about most often. Not exactly a Nobel-prize winning moment. But my moment nonetheless. What's your moment?
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