Off Kilter

Lessons I never trained for

I went into medicine for reasons less noble than you’d expect. I watched M*A*S*H, a comedy about Army doctors in a Korean War field hospital, and imagined a life of tents, surgery, gin, irreverence, and adventure. I knew that was the life I wanted.

I was a science nerd who made his way through college as a paid male escort. No, not a gigolo. I was paid to walk people home safely at night. In the process I learned to listen, and developed a genuine interest in people’s stories.

Textbooks and professors taught me a remarkable amount about disease, but patients taught me the art of medicine and, unexpectedly, a great deal about life.

Those lessons continue to leave me wide-eyed with wonder, humbled by the weight of tragedy, and awed by the seemingly indomitable strength of the human spirit.

These are the lessons I never trained for.