Professional Realities

Take down the tools of trade and watch them burn. Medicine is a calling for most, a passion so fierce that it gets you through the challenging education that comes with it. it.  You go to the morgue and stand before a body, marveling at the anatomy of the human body.. The days go by with so many hardships, yet the passion surpasses the struggles.
When all is said and done and a gown is assigned to you, the dream begins to become a reality.
You are called Daktari by everyone who knows you, so you smile, knowing that all you need now is a license. You see your family sing songs and ululate. DeepDeep down, you can’t wait to help them.. The new focus is on getting a license, which shouldn’t be as hard for many before you have gotten yours.
So you go to a clinic or hospital and ask for a locum while you wait. wait.  The excitement is so visible that you cannot hide, and the passion is so profound that it exceeds anything you have ever known. known.  That small stipend you have been waiting for is getting closer. It’s little, but it’s not about the money at this point. It is about passion. Pay day comes, and you are either paid less or not paid at all. The beginning of disappointment starts to unfold in epic proportions.
Each passing month, your passion declines, and your love for the smell of blood fades into the sunset. By the time you are posted, so much has changed, but your passion is still there somewhere, so you go forth and bless patients. The challenges of an internship don’t even scare you, because what is a consultant going to say that’s going to change who you are, Daktari?
Your pay is late, and you have to borrow money from friends or family, stripping Daktari of honor. With each challenge, something changes, and some part of you dies. But the passion is still there, so you fight.
A year later, you get your license, and the excitement is back. You can’t wait to celebrate, except you have to do it with colleagues. Everyone else doesn’t get what you are celebrating because you have been a doctor since you graduated.
The job market is waiting with an open mouth, ready to swallow every passion you have left. There are no jobs, and when there is an opportunity, you apply, yet your colleague who you are sure didn’t apply gets the job.
The dream slowly goes down the drain, taking passion along with it.One morning you look at your beautiful license and how empty your wallet looks in absolute tears.
Then you realize you have been stripped of everything that was beautiful about this profession.The passion is gone, and the payment is also nowhere to be seen. The tears are all that are left of a once-beautiful dream.
Before you complain, someone says, ,Doctors should live within their means, and in that exact moment, you realize that even class has been stripped and all you have left is unexplained emotions.
You can’t regret it because you did everything right. It’s too late to change professions, and even if you wanted to change, what would you be that would light a fire in your soul like medicine did?

• Email Address: consolataronoh@gmail.com