Some Things Still Sparkle by Morgan

Some Things Still Sparkle by Morgan - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

For a young girl, there was always something alluring about the sequined, pink doctor outfit Barbie got to wear when she was seeing her plastic patients, draping Kleenex over the book beds to check their heartbeats and deep, invisible breaths. She was professional, she was kind, she was sparkly, and she was smart. Patients always ended up either having a minor cold or tragically dying, such was the depressingly morbid span of Dr. Barbie’s physician knowledge, but despite such setbacks, she loved her job: twisting the “broken” arms back into correct orientation, bandaging deformed hands chewed contemplatively by some large, unidentified creature, gently helping weak patients drink careful sips of water.

In the years since Dr. Barbie has retired, my passion for medicine has grown from a childish infatuation with a vague idea to a true personal passion for my future. Such young dreams are often expected to evaporate with new knowledge and crumble beneath the weight of “realistic plans,” but every bit of new knowledge and weighty addition of reality has only served to strengthen my intentions and determination to pursue my long-held plans unto completion.

I am now preparing to enter my final year of undergraduate studies in Biomedical Sciences, studying for the medical entrance exam I will take in a few months and investigating my options for the medical school at which I will spend the next years of my life. While part of my dream is playing out in real time, at this moment, much of the dream still awaits fulfillment even further down the path. After this final year of study I will graduate and enter into a new realm of learning. My preparation will be met with further challenges and important equipment for my future. That future will appear quickly, with a real stethoscope around my neck and a real “doctor” before my name as my own fingers touch patients and heal and help. I will learn more and begin to place trust my abilities the way people place their hopes and trust in me. Then I will leave, and enter into a world of medicine where even my most rudimentary medical abilities can save or change a life. I will work with patients that may have never expected to be treated, may not have any way to pay for the help they are given, and may not have ever received aid if not for my journey leading me straight to their needs with the tools to meet them. There I will stay. I will work, learn and teach until I step forward into another future that I cannot see from where I stand today.

Both the goal to work as a physician and the goal to treat impoverished or needy people grew and developed in such close proximity that I cannot distinguish the two ideas from one another now. Increasingly aware of the hurting world around her, Dr. Barbie began to travel across the globe for her patients and I went with her, my mind storing the names of foreign places where simple injuries were death sentences and common procedures enriching or saving the lives of people in my world were completely unavailable in the worlds of other young girls my age. These ideas didn’t discourage me, but motivated me. I moved quickly from, “I can’t believe that” to “I can fix that.”

Now my intentions are only solidified and I plan for a career as a physician overseas, working in areas of poverty and where healthcare is difficult or impossible to obtain. I want to spread the reach of the medicine that has so blessed and protected the lives of people in my life to areas or patients where this was once only a wish. Specifically I hope to work with women in Northwest Africa or in poorer areas of South or Central America where I could use my skills with the Spanish language. At this point, I cannot be sure where I will end up, but I do trust that it will become clear to me where I could best meet the needs of the people.

Until then, I work. My life is not contained just in the future, but in the present spent preparing for it. While I am excited about the years I expect to spend many miles from where I now sit, just as much time has been spent in anticipation for this moment: learning, studying and living. Each day I move a step closer to the once sparkly, distant idea. The dreams I held in my hands becoming my own hands, reaching out to make the world a little bit better.