Because You Have Lived
” To appreciate beauty, to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition, to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thanks to my mom (Bob) for sending me the above quote a little while ago. It came at a time when I needed to be reminded of such things.
Another long day at the hospital.
A commenter on one of my Medscape posts just reminded me of something.
It’s so easy to get lost in all the craziness of my work. It’s easy to forget that I am actually making people better. Sometimes. Ordering a simple warm compress for a patient today relieved her neck pain. I comforted a worried father about his daughter’s prognosis. I managed to help control a psychotic patient on the medical floor. I wrote about one thousand orders, some of them which may actually do some good.
I’m totally rambling right now. But, as always, it helps to just mentally freestyle.
Good night world.
Rinse. Repeat.
Photo: Taken on my walk to the hospital this morning. Snowmageddon NYC part deux. Walking to work through the cold snow piles gives me a warm sense of purpose.