I'm currently reading Kitchen Table Wisdom by Dr. Rachel Remen. It is a wonderful book, very insightful and I love all the stories and morals that come out of everyday people and everyday things.
In one story, Rachel explains how she used to secretly kiss the heads of the infants in the NICU, but then stopped doing so because she was afraid it would seem unprofessional and risky. She concludes with the reflection that, "In some ways, medical training is like a disease, it would take years before I would fully recover from mine"
Another humbling moment of self-reflection comes after she had to tell a mother and father that their baby could not be saved...Here is the excerpt:
"I went to tell these parents that we had not been able to save their child. Overwhelmed, they began to sob. After a time, the father looked at me standing there, strong silent in my white coat, the shaken intern by my side. 'I'm sorry, Doctor,' he said, 'I'll get ahold of myself in a minute." I remember this man, his face wet with a father's tears, and I think of his apology with shame. Convinced by then that my grief was a useless, self-indulgent waste of time, I had made myself into the sort of a person to whom one could apologize for being in pain."
Kitchen Table Wisdom, by Rachel Remen, M.D.
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