Tomorrow afternoon I depart from Iraq and will inevitably find myself in Thailand, where I will spend the majority of my one month vacation. What follows is a retrospective evaluation of my time in the Middle East thus far. Perhaps this will be edifying to some.
The very first thing I must make known is this: local Iraqis are some of the genuinely nicest people you may ever find yourself privileged to meet. It is true, they would quite literally give you the shirt off of their back. When I spent time near the Persian Gulf, local Iraqis brought dates to us on base and they were incredibly delicious. It almost seemed as if beneath the skins of these dates was a sort of succulent liquid as opposed to the molasses texture I experienced stateside with medjool dates.
The second thing I will make known: we as Americans, by and large, are spoiled. It is a matter of privilege that we are able to complain about the things we do. When the phrase "first world problems" is uttered, it is succinct. We do suffer from problems, and perceive them as problems, but often they are not true problems. Surveying my Facebook feed, seeing the day to day complaints, I'm not completely capable of embracing these gestures.
Now I will briefly describe my experience with Kenyans and Nepalese Gurkhas, who provide our security team where I am located. When either of these nationalities are my patients, there is seldom a complaint - even if a painful procedure is being performed. This is in stark contrast to much of what I observed when practicing medicine in the states. Furthermore, there is a basic gratitude expressed by both Kenyans and Nepalese on a daily basis which does well to extract such livelihood out of me. It is indeed infectious. Kenyans especially strike me as so basically innocent in their ways that I find it hard to become impatient or upset with them, even during moments of extreme language barrier.
The temperatures here have reached as high as 126 degrees fahrenheit, primarily when I was near the Persian Gulf. These are doubtless to be perceived as gaudy temperature numbers, however I must inform that the complete lack of air moisture makes these temperatures entirely bearable. Whereas I've found Atlanta's high 90s heat with 70% or higher humidity oppressive, I have few complaints about the weather here. The weather is sneaky, however, in that sweat evaporates off of the body before ever being noticed and thus occult dehydration has been known to take place.
It has rained once in the three months I have been here, which persisted for all of perhaps five minutes.
Finally, I will say this: though it would seem I've been bearish on Americans and even the developed world abound, I still sympathize with the post-industrial lifestyle. Though the things we complain about have changed, the residual stress has not. It is simply different things which we see as stressors now, but they are nonetheless formidable. Instead, I might say that living here has radically reduced my residual stress. I have very few things which would serve as stressors. In my three months here, I have been consistently happy with every passing day, and cannot recall a single day in which I felt sad or depressed.
All told, the time went by quickly. Following my vacation I will log another ninety days in the Middle East and then depart for another month-long vacation, attending college online all the while. If anything, I can readily perceive that this is a significant foothold in my life, and its direction may forever change following my stint working here.
I am glad that you have had the opportunity to be in a happy place. I, too went in with much enthusiasm and expectations that I would be making a positive difference in other people's lives. The people outside of the clinical setting, were the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. Innocence did indeed seem to be the direction of the Sierra Leonese guards and the Nepalese. Yet, it was not innocence at all. It only appeared to be that way because what is important to them are those things that all children enjoy: sunshine, friendships, food to eat, clothes to wear, and another day of being alive. When you take the time to sit down and talk to them, you will discover that they have lived more horrors and lost more things in their lives than we (in the privileged world) could ever imagine. I came away with a love of those people which will never be matched.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, the ones I worked with in the clinic were the most preverse, disrespectful and spoiled individuals I have ever had the misfortune to work with. They spent their days 'bored' with their jobs because they came in expecting guns and terroristic acts and MASCAL trauma on a daily basis, yet all they received were upper respiratory infections and toothaches. They took their frustrations of not being in a high trauma volume environment out on their coworkers, and worst of all, on their patients. I saw patients degraded, humiliated and left to wait forever so that they would be taught a lesson on coming in to waste their time with a bellyache. 'Just so they could get out of work'. Worst of all, they took their frustrations out on their fellow coworkers by trying to find ways to discredit them so that they would look better in everyone else's eyes. For those people, I came away with a distrust that will be difficult to shed myself of.
You are a unique individual who will always see the sunshine through the rain, hear music when no notes are being played, and enjoy the company of others even when alone time is desired. Thank you for being one of the few who can see the world for what you can do for it, and not what it can do for you.