The nature of our work attracts individuals who are to a varying degree poets and writers at heart. We were at a faculty dinner after a long day of lectures when Mike brought up the question - why medicine? Some on the table had known their destiny from early on while others became healers by accident. Everyone had a remarkable tale to tell. Mike himself was maybe 11 or 12 years old, growing up somewhere in middle America. His summer job as a newspaper boy saw him bicycling his way through the neighborhood every morning - tossing rolled newspapers into manicured front yards. One day he was about to turn onto a main street when he heard a loud crash. Then he saw it; two mangled vehicles that had collided head-on, smoke billowing from one of the car's radiator. Both the drivers were slumped forwards in their seats, unconscious. Those were the days when seat belts were not considered fashionable. As people quickly gathered and someone called Emergency response, Mike watched paralyzed with fascination. The driver of the smoking vehicle was pulled out, his neck grotesquely hanging; twisted at an unnatural angle such that even a child's brain could register it as being incompatible with life. Next the paramedics got to the gasping occupant of the other vehicle, who expired after a few minutes of futile attempts at resuscitation. The scene was seared into Mikes brain. He did not know it then, but he had make the decision to become an Emergency Physician so that maybe someday he could do better for similar trauma victims.
