someday we'll know

i am very upset.

to find myself surrounded by classmates who find it perfectly legitimate for them to guffaw when the professor explains certain medical conditions during lectures has been exceedingly perplexing and disturbing.

i cannot for the life of me comprehend wat is so funny about an elderly man comin in with blood in his stools, or that he has had his entire colon resected, including his anus. -insert giggle- or that he cannot defecate and will have to empty his intestinal contents into a pouch that hangs out from his body. -insert haha-

sure, the jesting is behind closed doors and the patient in question would probably never hear of it anyway. but wat starts as a small affair can easily develop into a hardening of the heart and insensitivity towards the feelings of other people. and as future healthcare workers, that would be the most dreaded atittude that we want to acquire in the course of our work.

the patient is suffering. and it is no laughing matter. the least respect we can give them is to regard their conditions with due solemnity and be thankful that we are able to learn and help them. it is an honour and privilege, not wat we deserve just because we are able to meet the entry requirements.

besides, that patient could easily be your loved one. and when that happens, you wouldn't like ur colleagues to discuss it in jocularity as 'just another case', would you.