Family Medicine: Not-So Final Impressions...and Then Some

Undoubtedly, nobody would argue if I were to say that Family Medicine is an eye-opener.

People coming from different walks of life, each with his or her own story to tell. Some live dreadfully tragic lives that we never could have imagined plausible on this Earth. A handful may even have stories that could give Hollywood directors a run for their money.

But being posted in a government hospital and government clinic, more often than not we students encounter those ranging from the middle class and below.

Occasionally what we have the chance of witnessing is not a pretty sight.

It never occurred to me that I would one day step into a house so run down by poverty. I did not expect that such a deplorable living condition actually existed.

So different are we, that our priorities differ. While we may worry what we should be having during our breaking of fast owing to the luxury of choices we're capable of making, they may wonder if there will be food at all, or if it would be enough just to tame the growls of a deprived stomach. While we query if two baju rayas would be enough, they search for patches of clothes to mend their tattered outfits from yesteryear with.

That's why I grimace each time I hear raya songs playing. No matter how the lyrics claim that both the rich and the poor celebrate, the two define it differently.

At the Ramadhan bazaar I visit frequently, a few beggars could be seen. The last time I was there, a beggar was being hauled away by at least two able-bodied officers under MPK. Soon enough, signboards warning the shoppers against the beggars were put up.

The religion that I know encourages one to strive to earn money. While it may sound cruel if I say that some take the easy way out by just begging for others to spare them some money (i.e. Using the old adage of how giving is better than receiving - the only exception to this is that if one is on the receiving end), some perhaps deserve to more than the rest.

There have been words about malicious syndicates that kidnap children and force them to beg. Who could deny that this setting in Slumdog Millionaire was inhumane? And how about those institutes that supposedly teach their students religious teachings but these students are later found selling things like ointments and raisins chanted with Quranic verses? Isn't this basically 'selling religion'?!

It's nerve-wrecking, it's heartbreaking.

But you just have to admire their guts. It takes willpower to reduce your ego and ask from complete strangers their money, their sympathy.

Some of those poverty-stricken have ran out of tears to cry, voices to lament over their misfortune. That is also strength.

Alas, what else am I able to say? For I am still human, vulnerable to the temptations of the flesh, the yearnings for things material.

Current Music: Redemption - Gackt Camui