Survivorman

The second month of my intern year is ending. Anesthesia has been educational, but sometimes frustrating. One day, while waiting for my microwave soup, I flipped through The New Yorker and this poem caught my eye (mostly because I am a fan of the TV show by the same name):



"Survivorman"



Here's a fact: some people want to live more

Than others do. Some can withstand any horror



While others will easily surrender

To thirst, hunger, and extremes of weather.



In Utah, one man carried another

Man on his back like a conjoined brother



And crossed twenty-five miles of desert

To safety. Can you imagine the hurt?



Do you think you could be that good and strong?

Yes, yes you think; but you're probably wrong.



-Sherman Alexie



I think people who have never been truly physically tested, like myself, think that they're hard or very capable of handling physical adversity. For myself, my default frame of mind is "I can do that." But like the line says, I'm probably wrong.