i wish it was simple

me and my good friend will drove down together to hamilton this afternoon to re-unite with our mutual friend dan. the triumphant trio as we were! its been a little while since our last reunion. we enjoyed a meal together in this uber-cool hamiltonian cafe whilst espousing on the shortcomings of our health system. we then began to talk about our time in niger together. good times and "my how far we have come" -a mantra which we would often recite on the dank smelly wards of galmi hospital- its soo incredibly weird that even after 10 months of occidental taint the experience of galmi is still fresh in our minds and is yet to be lost in memory. and so we plan to return to that place in the next couple of years.

its strange to relate such experiences within the frame and context of our current working environment. it almost seems ridiculous. how complicated it is over here. the duty to care for our patients is surmounted by our duty to generate screeds and screeds of notes in order to protect ourselves in case of litigation.

as i reflect on the current junior doctors strike and what it actually means to achieve i cannot help but feel a little bit cheated. i wonder if all this is just an intellectual power struggle between heads of equally grotesque beasts of inflated self-importance, and us poor doctors are merely pawns in this battle. we all entered into this contract believing -perhaps too idealistic for our own sanity- that we were going to help people/to help heal our nation, one sick person at a time. we were once human vehicles driven by the cherubs of good will, now we seem to have turned into animals led by demons of ambition and pleasure seeking. although it would be nice if we worked less than eighty - ninety hours a week...