I waited for the "Doctor Posse," a cluster of doctors and medical personnel, to walk out of earshot before flailing my hand back and forth excitedly. I'd spot them maybe once or twice a shift, and seeing them was my favorite part of walking through the halls of my local hospital's patient floors during my volunteership. My shiftmate, though, didn't see what was so special about them.
“It’s another Doctor Posse!” I hissed to my shift-mate, who only rolled her eyes at me again with a bemused smile on her face.
“I don’t understand why you get so excited to see them,” she said. “They’re doctors. We’re in a hospital. It’s their job to be here.”
How can I put into words the surreal feeling of walking by a group of everyday superheroes? How can I describe my adoration for the rockstars who come to the hospital every day to save lives and help people? She didn’t get it, didn't see them as more than people coming to work and doing their jobs.
To me, they are so much more than that. I am going to be one of them someday.
At some point, in the distant future, I’ll have my own "Doctor Posse." I'll have a group of colleagues who are just as passionate about taking care of people as I am. I’ll be able to do more for patients than just handing them magazines like my shift-mate and I were doing, and I'd actually be able to help the poor souls instead of having to call for a nurse when one of them asked for something outside of what I was allowed to do as a volunteer.
This is why I want to be a surgeon. People who need surgery tend to be the ones who are physically suffering the most, and I want to be one of the people who can relieve them of that pain. Becoming well-versed in psychology will help me understand patients as more than a face or letters and numbers on a page, which is also why I want to pursue this field and goals in college.
The "Doctors' Posse" embodies my life goals, which makes them that much cooler.
Every time I tried to put it into words for my shift-mate, though, I just ended up gesturing wildly in the doctors’ direction and repeating “Doctor Posse!” in answer. She’d shake her head and continue pushing the magazine cart down the hall, and I’d keep mooning over doctors and future patients long after the white coats had disappeared around a corner.
So, to all my doctors and other medical personnel out there, thank you for being awesome. I aspire to be just like you guys some day.
