It spurred a friendship, then, years later, a visit to a clinic. There I realized I was to become a doctor.
It’s a season of thanks—and also of interviews for medical schools and residency programs. I share the pros and cons of my hospital’s residency program with applicants who are neatly dressed in the same clothes, with the same résumés, from the same prestigious institutions. Any one of them is a stronger candidate than I was a few years ago. In addition to the usual platitudes about how well-fed we are, how diverse our patients are, and how expert our experts are, I like to make one other claim on their appraisal of programs.
I tell them, “Hughlings Jackson, the father of English neurology, once observed that you can tell a lot about a man by what he laughs at. So while you’re visiting with us, judge us on what makes us jolly and learn what makes us thankful. Our gratitude reveals our values.”
At the postinterview dinner, one applicant turns to me and asks: “So what are you thankful for?”
I open my backpack to show him my latest purchases—boxes of stationery. Then I tell him two stories.