I’m not in the habit of adding music to my blog posts. So this is a special occasion — or just an opportunity for me to hunt down and try out a new plugin for my blog.

Yesterday I drove back to Loma Linda (from San Fernando) to get my H1N1 vaccine and to pick up some other things. This vaccine was the main reason. I received an email a couple weeks back saying that all students at Loma Linda University would be required to have the vaccination in order to register for Spring quarter. Last week (during exams), I received an email from one of my deans stating that I had not yet received mine and they wanted to know why and when I would get one. So, taking advantage of Christmas break (a time when the I’ve-got-to-study-every-minute-I-can feeling is slightly diminished), I decided to get my shot.

On the drive back I selected shuffle on my iPod and placed Apple in charge of my driving music. I frequently download music, add it to my library, and never listen to it. So there are plenty of songs that have a zero play count. But eventually I do get to hear some of the songs when my iPod shuffles to it.

Somewhere around Pasadena this song started playing (lyrics below). I think it was the first time I’d ever listened to it.

As the chorus played I thought about medicine — about the practice of it. I thought about the current healthcare reform debate. I thought about the seeming futility of trying to make a difference. I thought of all the practicing doctors who started out hoping to change the world but who have since become filled with cynicism. And I thought about Loma Linda University’s motto: “…to Make Man Whole.”

Can we make a difference on a grand scale? I don’t know. Through the optimistic lenses of my medical student glasses I’d like to hope that we can. I want to believe it’s possible.

But at the very least, we can start on the path towards changing the world by making a difference in the lives of one patient at a time.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

If you’re a medical student, or any other student, I hope you get well-rested, refreshed, and ready to attack a new quarter come January.

If you’re out of school and working, I hope the office Christmas parties will have made you smile at least a little — even if it was to laugh at the foolishness around you.

And if you are a bum, I hope the chaos of the season will not be too overwhelming for you.

Change
Performed by Carrie Underwood
Album: Play On

What’cha gonna do with the 36 cents
Sticky with Coke on your floorboard
When a woman on the street is huddled in the cold
On a sidewalk vent trying to keep warm
Do you call her over hand her the change
Ask her a story ask her her name
Or do you tell yourself

You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world

What’cha gonna do when you’re watching t.v.
And an ad comes on
Yeah you know the kind
Flashin’ up pictures of a child in need
For a dime a day you can save a life
Do you call the number reach out a hand
Or do you change the channel call it a scam
Or do you tell yourself

You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
Don’t you listen to them when they say
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
Oh the smallest thing can make all the difference
Love is alive
Don’t listen to them when they say
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world

The worlds so big it could break your heart
And you just wanna help
But not sure where to start
so you close your eyes
Send up a prayer into the dark

You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world
Don’t listen to them when they say
Youre just a fool
Just a fool you believe
You can change the world
Oh the smallest thing can all the difference
Love is alive
Don’t listen to them when they say
You’re just a fool
Just a fool
You believe you can change the world