Attitudes

Salam

It has been quite sometimes since I last give this blog a peek. I only do so when I have ideas what to ramble and rant. And YES! I have something to talk about now.

This has been popping into my mind a handful of times during the year of  2015 (it sounds so long ago when we just passed it few days back -.-) and it's been bugging me during my New Year lunch with friends.

Attitudes

at·ti·tude

ˈadəˌt(y)o͞od/

noun

plural noun: attitudes

1. a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior.

   "she took a tough attitude toward other people's indulgences"

So basically, how you BEHAVE and REACT with people.

It might look to be something tiny, insignificant perhaps in today's life. But it's part of very and utmost important aspects in life, that some people may overlook.

I learnt and realized how important this attitude is when I'm already in medical school. Yes, back in those school days, attitude is just attitude. Nothing much to consider about it and I didn't really give a second thought in it. Never actually.

There are few types of students people that you'll meet in life. There are those who treat others with respects; or act in a way that made the people around them feel inferior to that particular person; there are also those who always feel inferior to others; and then, there are the know-it-all-I'm-better-than-you-and-I-want-you-to-realize-it kind of person.

The last one is the species I loath the most. And this is also the people who doesn't care about their attitudes. They think with their extra bits of knowledge, automatically they're superior than others? And they start to treat surrounding people with no respect at all?

I saw this happening in my vicinity. The holier than thou and superiority complexes unfolding among the students. Yes, I know, the more you know, the better you're in faculty, the more superior (in terms of knowledge) you are among your fellow colleagues. But! This does not mean you could disrespect your 'friends.' And have the guts to questions whatever other people are doing, despite they're none of your business?

Then, that kind of aura you give out and made students from other faculties loath at medical students, thinking that all of us have that Grandiose Delusions of being the best in the hardest faculty in university?

Your attitudes define who you are. Even if you memorize all the words ever printed in the textbooks, you score highest among other students, and doing a lot more better than others, if your attitude is like that, do you think people will respect you?

Do you think your patient would like you?

Every time people ask me, how to survive in medical school, my answer would be as simple as it could be.

You study, you don't skip classes, you ask for prayers from your parents and...

check your attitudes and respect others

It's okay to be average, or maybe slightly lower... as long as you really work hard for it and you behaved appropriately. You could't and shouldn't be questioning people, with that kind of know-it-all tones and giving that annoying-aura to people. 

Even if you're right.

Even if you're the best.

Respect other people. In this field, we cannot be living for and by ourselves. We are a system that need one another. Medical field doesn't consist of doctors, ONLY. We have nurses, we have medical assistants, we have clerks, we have a lot more other people that make the system works. 

Do you think if you're acting like that, people will want to work with you? Respect you?

Attitudes define who we are.

Medical students (or everyone!) stop feeling we are better than anyone. In the end of the day, we are still gonna ended up in the same place. 

In a grave. 

We're just a speck of being in this vast world. Respect others if you want to be respected to. Respect is gained not given and your attitudes determine if you're worth others' respect. 

--Footnote--
> I started written this piece somewhere during New Year celebration day and just finished it. I'm lazy like that.

I am... Indonesian's Medical Student

Do you know that it IS NEVER easy for me to be a medical student?

Do you know that it IS THE WORST feeling ever when people asked you that?

Do you know I DREADED the decision made by my parents to send me study in Indonesia? In MEDICINE

I hated it at first. I dreaded it. I felt worst.

Comparing to my friends that are doing their MBBS in Malaysia or UK, in those prestigious, established, well-known universities? Bapak ah aku down gila.

Nobody knows UNPAD when you first mentioned it. Paling, they heard of it because of Fatin Liyana, which is not a full time FK UNPAD student, but twinning program UKM-UNPAD.

Okay sedih! Down! Semuanya!

Why?

People cakap,

'Apa kelas kau belajar kt Indonesia?'  

'Do they even know what medicine is?'

'The worst medical students are from Indonesia.'

'Study kat Indon^ ni budak-budak tak layak ambik medik pun sebenarnya.'

'Untung lah belajar medik kat Indon. Tak pandai pun tak pe. Janji banyak duit.'

and so on and so forth.

Those were the rumors I heard. Even after I stepped into the faculty, those 'stories' kept on circulating. When I got back to Malaysia, same gossips I heard.

I understand. Takde standard pun kan belajar kat Indonesia ni? Budak tak pandai je layak. Yang pandai, stay belajar Medik kat Malaysia. Or flew to better, well-known, established countries macam UK, US, India, Aussie dan lain-lain kan? Even those yang belajar kat Russia, are better than Indonesians' graduates kan?

I'd developed that kind of feeling yang takut nak jawab any medical quizzes on social medias especially I saw the answers from other medical students. Jawapan gila-gila, that I'd to Google half of them*.

Hebat memang hebat.

Okay paham. Kami tak pandai macam korang. Kami punya teori banyak ke laut. Kami memang paling rendah diri among other medical graduates. Kami tak sehebat kalian yang dari universiti negara hebat-hebat. We are just graduates/medical students from a third-world country.

Tak. Hebat. Mana.Pun.

But you know what...

I think I have learnt a lot; both in medicine and real-life. How to deal stuffs ethically. How to deal with bureaucracy.

We learnt that life is not always easy for everyone.
We learnt that there are a lot more unfortunate people that needed medical attention. '
We learnt there are people that are so poor that they couldn't buy the full medical prescription.
We learnt that even the smallest help could bring out the biggest smile.

We learnt to be humble.

We learnt to be a human being. 

Memang teori kami tak berapa kuat. Tak macam kalian. But we got something better. We learnt from the people, from the patients. We learnt doing the smallest tasks but giving you the biggest result. A smallest act of kindness, brings out the happiness from the ill patients.

Seventh semester and counting.

Thank you Allah for this oppurtunity. Thank you for sending me here, in this 3rd world country. Thank you for putting me in Bandung. Thank you for surrounding me with such great people, patients, nurses, doctors,lab technicians, makcik nasi kuning, pakcik bubur ayam, abang Gojek semuanya.

---

Footnote:
^ Aku paling anti orang cakap Indon. Dude, c'mon! It's either Indonesia or Indo. They don't like to be called an Indon. We ought to know that. We have been neighbours!

*Btw, tadi cuba beranikan diri jawab one question. Everyone else said heart-/renal- related diseases and only a handful yang jawab pregnancy-related (well I am one of them! XD) and guess what,I got the right answer! Thank you! At least this restore some of my confidence in learning medicine in Indonesia.

As long as you're willing to learn, belajar kat mana-mana pun boleh jadi.

Yang penting itu bukan tempat belajar, yang penting itu niat nak belajar, dengan attitude yang betul. Belajarlah kat Harvard ke John Hopkins ke UKM ke UM ke mana ke... attitude takde, berlagak gila, ke laut lah nak jadi seorang doktor yang berjaya.

As long as you are willing.