بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
HJ Chronicles; entry 001.
“Everyone who spends longer time than others as a senior resident becomes an exceptional consultant”
The famous picture of the ballet slippers comes to mind— two feet, one covered with a pretty ballet slipper and the other uncovered and bruised. The takeaway message was that no one sees the pain that was endured and the hard work that was put in behind the scenes, everyone only sees the glamorous performances displayed onstage— 30 minute performances that required months of sweat and tears to be perfected.
Dr. X is hands down one of the best consultants you will ever meet in your life, and this isn’t just because his brain is an encyclopedia; he is also humble, and kind and empathetic, and religious, and professional. Every sane doctor who’s not in it for the prestige and dunya-related perks looks at Dr. X with heart eyes and wants to be like him.
From the distance, it seems like Dr. X was just one of those lucky people who won the genetic lottery that granted them a high IQ and zeal, and they passed through the hurdles of life swiftly, except that’s not the case. Dr. X failed his exams, contracted two communicable and potentially fatal diseases from patients, was behind his mates for years, before he became this spectacle we see and admire now.
No one knows, because those “setbacks” are hardly ever talked about, and when they are, they only increase him in status. Characters are more interesting and more appreciated if they have a dark background story filled with loss and pain, and their wins are more celebrated.
Would Dr. X still be referred by many as “the doctor who made me fall in love with Medicine” if he hadn’t gone through what he went through? That, we will never know.
Do the losses and pain he went through make him any less of a good doctor, or pitiful in the eyes of others? On the contrary.
This is a divine promise that we know but is always hard to swallow: And those who endure patiently will be given their reward without limit. (Quran, 39:10)
The pain of failure, no matter how unbearable it feels, is fleeting if one delegates his affairs to Allah SWT and seeks His reward. As cliché as it sounds, those “setbacks” will be counted as strengths in the near future, by His will.
As with everything we have gone through before that we thought we couldn’t handle, THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
السلام عليكم