YOU AND YOUR EDUCATION – Fortnightly
By Dr. Murtaza Hameer
I met Dr. Conrad Fischer briefly back in 2007 at the Kaplan Medical Centre in Newark, New Jersey, where I had enrolled for U.S. medical exams prep courses. He taught my class some topics in Physiology. Dr. Fischer, an Internal Medicine doctor and author of several renowned medical review books, was a celebrity medical educator back then (and continues to be one even today!). He had the amazing ability to explain complex medical concepts in simple ways that made learning medicine fun and memorable.
Coupled with his humor and the occasional mild sarcasm, the man was a legend for many of his students. If we go by what Einstein said, that “it takes a genius to make complex things simple”, then Dr. Fischer was truly one of a kind of genius.
I mention the good doctor here because I wish to highlight his passion and zest for learning and teaching medicine. Being passionate about what you’re studying, and coupling it with curiosity, is the beginning of all learning.
To paraphrase the great Socrates, “The sense of wonder is the beginning of all philosophy.”
What I also learned from Dr. Fischer many moons ago is that there is beauty in medicine and learning in general. Each of us is here to fulfill our destinies, to sing our songs, to play our individual symphonies, to add meaning and beauty to the world.
The great poet and mystic Mawlana Rumi said, “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.”
So, whether you’re a student in high school or college, or a life-long learner in life’s grand university, don’t forget to pause every once in a while and reflect:
What is the beauty of what you love?
How will you kneel to kiss the earth?
There is no greater worship than your soul’s answers to these two questions.
