YL5 Week 13: Ear, Nose and Oral Cavity

 YL5 Week 13: Ear, Nose and Oral Cavity

There's a lot of noise, or at least it seems so. That's kind of how it feels when in medical school sometimes, especially when it gets overwhelming. One gets engrossed in studying that even things that may sound pleasant appear as noise. And it's just something to drown out with studying until life flashes before one's eyes. My aunt from the states came earlier this midweek after hearing her mother's passing, just around the time that, after a lot of work, grade calculations came through to ensure that there's no danger of passing. This module had a lot of team based learning (TBL) that helps keep one accountable at least to contribute what one studies into the team, it's quite fulfilling– especially as we studied the oral cavity and ear. At the same time, one learns in medical school that not everything can be managed, and it is sometimes even good to be inconvenienced. It's hard to say no to some things, especially those that can't be repeated. 

Arguably, many of the events that happened at the end of this week, that of the surgical society's, or even my own campus ministry general assembly– these all only happen once and are unique. Even this moment with head and neck module in our first year is inherently one-of-a-kind. Maybe that's what helps remove the irritation of noise out there in the world. Providence dictates that everything happens according to some reason, but it isn't just any reason but the Logos itself which we Christians come to believe has become incarnate. Without tying it in to the person of Jesus, providence merely seems abstract and mystical, which may work for some people but many self-proclaimed realists will be too quick to call bs. 

It's something to reflect on as this liturgical year ends, and the hope of advent comes into us– what is it that we bring to our lives, especially as medical students? Unfortunately we are living in a "post-truth" world, where there is so much confusion with regards to people's relationship with truth, so much so that they would deny it outright. But what of medicine? Can we deny the reality of illness? Many have already denied life beginning in conception– in fertilization. Some are stalwart scientists who can come to this conclusion until they realize that this point is against their political ideology and then find ways to curb it into their narrative. And that's the power of stories or narratives– it is in hermeneutics, the art of interpretation, where we fuse ourselves with the stories we encounter and interpret, that affects our future interpretations, making each and every one unique, one-of-a-kind. 

It is here in medical school where we begin to encounter the horizon of medicine, and see if we are willing to fuse it to ourselves. My only worry is that in light of all these post-truth concerns, we may be not as genuine as we'd like to be out of caution of being "indoctrinated"; it's one of the reasons why the Catholic Church is so appealing to me. The truth is not only revealed by faith (although it helps us experience its fullness), but by through standard of reason– of natural law, of science, of logic– firmly grounded in a worldview of love. The truth is revealed by and through love, not through "resentiment" or class consciousness. It is my worry that some of us may refuse to be taught other's truths– only "my truth". But, well, as the great St. John Paul II said in a poem while still a Cardinal:

But if the truth is in me, it must explode. I cannot push her away, because I would push myself away 


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