REFLECTIONS
THE CHOICE
Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, MD
Dr. Teresita Bacani-Oropilla
(fourth from the left) with
her fellow 60th Anniversary
graduates.
A
three day gala reunion, celebrating 60 years of graduation from
medical school in a luxury hotel in
sunny California, was an exhilarating experience. Meeting with friends of old, admiring
the vigor of the younger physicians who are
still in active practice, parading and dancing
in white formal gowns and tuxes as diamond
jubilarians, while doctors of younger vintage also showed off their
expertise in their respective colors, silver for 25, ruby for 40, sapphire for 45, and gold for 50 – this was one for the memory books.
There was much to catch up on for the intervening years, the triumphs and heartaches of practice, the joys of successful children,
the loss of spouses, and waning health, yet plans for the future. All
had one characteristic in common: a strong will to live the rest of
their mortal lives to the fullest.
Half of Year 2016 is now over. With rose-colored glasses, we looked
forward to another year of success and prosperity punctuated by
milestones, reunions and holidays. Most of these have occurred as
we predicted and orchestrated, and we were glad. However, a gloomy
pall of calamities great and small seemed not far behind, creating
much grief, dampening our enthusiasm, slowing our progress and
leaving us with feelings of frustration and unease.
Things are just not quite right with our world. Floods, earthquakes,
fires and droughts seem to pop up more frequently, both in our
country and elsewhere. Most distressing is the disrespect for human
life, from conception to adulthood. Killings, even beheadings of
innocent people and massacres targeting them, are so common we
see them on our TV screens without being shocked. Brussels, Paris,
San Bernardino, Orlando, Dallas, in multiple African and Middle
Eastern locations, and now, Nice and Baton Rouge, thousands of
our fellow human beings are killed or displaced. From their homes
in Europe and the Middle East, children of refugees drown in the
sea, or die in the desert, or starve in the camps, trying to get to
some safe harbor on our common earth. Perpetrators point fingers
at each other, as in a game of ‘the pot calling the kettle black’, yet
everyone suffers. The recent spate of police killing black civilians
and the shooting of white policemen in Dallas has brought the evils
of racism to a boil. When are these supposed to end?
Is it more convenient then, to insulate ourselves from the local,
global and universal problems as in, “See no evil, hear no evil,
speak no evil?” Would being uninvolved bring us peace of mind?
Or should we join the fray to alleviate the injustices and sufferings
being imposed on others and on ourselves too?
Being part of a larger humanitarian society, being among those
who possess the knowledge and the resources and having pledged
ourselves in the past to helping others, being involved even in little
ways, can be a choice. This, however, requires purpose, energy and
the willingness to serve above and beyond what is expected. What
will it be for each one of us?
Dr. Oropilla is a retired psychiatrist.
AUGUST 2016
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