“First, do no harm.”
We live by this creed - yet every day, we, the
soldiers dressed elegantly in white coats and muted ties,
lose a bit of our humanity.
Just like on the fields of an army boot camp, the new cadets
are broken in. Like a new pair of shoes.
Worn, muddied, thrown away.
The white, pristinely laundered scrubs are meant to hide our withering souls.
The operating mask covers our forced and plastered smiles.
The gloves are tight to keep our hands from trembling.
We do no harm upon our patients, but I wonder if there were
a creed to also inflict no harm upon yourself,
How far our hearts could go to touch others?