Trek,
The truth is that, they not only give you an initial screen, they screen you every 6 month. This is what I experience as have served in US Armed Force. And immigrant can serve in the armed force too. I don't want to go into the detail of my info, because I don't want some people on this board to recognize me in real life by reading this.
choker:
I didn't mean that people who smoke pot do not deserve to practice medicine. Perhaps that's what most of you think- I am an unsympathetic hypocrite, based on what I said.
Well, what I said was my belief and my principal on the subject of the drug intake of doctors. It's perfectly for you not to agree with me, as I never expect people in this world to act in a harmony.
But don't tell me that how I will treat my patient, or how will I not, because only you don't know me at all. I don't even need to defend myself or prove to you that how will I care my patient.
There are ethic, custom, trandition and law in the world as standard for human behavior. In primitive time people enforced the peace of the society by following a general order, a custom, a practice. The peace is definied as the best interest of the people, while every individual's right is not compromised.
Emphasize on individual's right, however, is increased as ages pass and is focused more in the western culture. Generally a family will govern the tribe or a small town where a group of families reside. Later on as people increase and the society get complicated, a more formal and structural government system needs to be institutionalized. What shall be put into the law, however, are come from the tranditional wisdom that we have discovered throughout our past days.
These trandition-derived law therefore may be different from time to time, and from place to place. In many countries for example, drinking ages are set differently. In all countries, however, murder is considered a capital crime. Illegal drinking and murder are both two subjects that the book of law needs to cover, but one varies from place to place, one remain the same. It's becaused that people from different cultural background conceive and create the standard of their social behavior independently from one another based on their social need and their past history.
Someone kills a person because that person slept with someone's girl/boy friend. This is a homicide and would probably be treated as a felony in every where, because almost all human beings in the world believe that murder is a serious and wrong behavior.
Drinking underage, however, will be enforced with a much larger varieation among states.
What I am trying to potray here is that, where can we draw the fine line between something is clearly bad, and something that's in the grey area.
We human who suffer in the mortal soil must face this question. We have all kinds of choices to make. ****s happen in life. There are people you jsut plainly hate and you want to stab. There are unjustices every where. World is not perfect and we all know it. In this whole big mess we are trying to make this palce a better palce to live by reflecting the brighter side of us more.
And choker, I drive faster than the speed limit all the time; I don't like to drink, but I do drink sometimes underage; I often lie. And for your info, I am not better than anyone else or any other men in the world. Did I ever say I was? But so what? Being perfect is an impossible task for men to achive, but trying to be perfect is what we all need to pursue- not the perfect in your MCAT score or your GPA, but your moral attitudes. It's who you are the most important thing, not what title you have earned.
Back to the topic, as what I said, laws are made to provide us a standard. It's not given by the government or found out by experiements. It's originally imprinted in our heart- the conscience that we have. We just derive it and translate it into noun and verbs on white sheets so every one can follow. We don't need to discover the gravity in order to be remain standing, not floating to outter space. Gravity will remain whether we beleive it or not.
But where do we draw that fine line between the extremes of two sides? On one side of our moral standard might be, for example, murder which is considered wrong. On the other side, let's say speeding 9 miles over the limit. I guess 90% of people will probably tolerate that.
But at what point between these two, can one say, "it's not right for a person to do it?"
Well, there isn't that line. I was not giving you that line either.
As a matter of drug intaking, I am only giving you my best advise, the advise that built upon my knowledge and faith. It's your right to take it or not to take it. It has, though, nothing to do with how well will I treat my patient or take care of people who don't meet my standard.
In fact, as I said, there is no standard. Well, at this point I have to explain my point with a clarification. I am a Chrsitian, so as for a Christian, a standard is really to follow Jesus and inmitate him. None of men is perfect, therefore he came to save us from our sin. He know that we can't be perfect, to be not lying, not cheating in the test, not speeding, or not killing, not hating, not discriminating, not raping... He knows all these ****s will happen, but he still comes to us and tell us that he loves us. This is really the theme of Christianity that, we aren't saved by our acts- what we do and who we are. We are really just saved because we believe in Him. If we believe in him, we are willing to follow his command, to love one another, then we are on our way to the truth. The truth is this, no matter where we are on this line between two extremes, as long we are TRYING our best to be a better person, we are fine.
Along the way we need encouragement and understanding, that's where doctors come in and play their roles. Doctors could be anyone in our lives. It could be someone who enlightens you, or someone who give you a hand.
In my post, however, is that incorrect to tell you, my fellow pre-meds, that ABIDING THE LAW IS SOMETHING YOU SHALL BE DOING? Gosh, I really can't believe all these negative comment to my post from you. It's not about you are premed or not. It's about abiding a law, ok? If the subject today is, "Speeding And Teaching", and I said, "we shall not drive over the speeding limit becase we are parents of our children therefore we shall set a good example." Are you guys going to yell me, and ask me whether I have blow job or not, that I am a hypocrite and I despise all parents on this planet who drive over the speeding limit? Hell no! But can't I suggest you that, for your own safety sake, not to drive over the legal speed limit?
What is the law for if someone under such system tries to defend for the it receives public censure? Don't you guys have any thought of abide the law at all? And for Christ sake, it's about your health, and we all want to become doctors!
I really don't know what else I should say. It's just making me very sad when someone who has no clue about who I am and tells me that I can't help my patient.
What do you think of people see a poster in the mall saying, "You Can Count On Us- Physician Today Are Allowed To Smoke Pot As Needed. A message from the Department of Health." Do you think this is a positive image? Or, do you think a positive image is important at all? At least for me, an image is important for any profession. If I am a doctor, I will ask myself to behave the best of me and perform the best of me to be a caretaker of other people. I will ask myself to set a good example, a healthy one and a moral one. If I am a plumber today, I will do the same, only that less people will care. And I want to make a difference in the world.
I will ask myself, how am I going to help people if I am not good enough? Perhaps a lot of you want to become a doctors for reasons very different than I, therefore you can't echo with me. I want to be a doctor because I want to help people, NOT JUST THEIR PHYSICAL NEED, BUT THEIR SOUL. I want to give them encouragement and correct advise, cause they trust me. I want to teach them how to live a better life if they are willing to listen to my humble opinion, because they call me their doctors. I strongly believe that, since we all will die, doctors at most can only prolong the length of the process of dying. The most significant thing in one's life, therefore, is not just how long you live, but how you live your life. When this arguement becomes a rather philosophical one, perhaps I shall stop and let you to decide what kind of doctor you want to be. We just have different expectation and different goals, that's it.
Trek,
Did you hear that, heroic music playing in the background again?
