Page 39 - Layout 1

SAN ANTONIO
MEDICINE

Lessons

By Aarushi Aggarwal

I will readily admit
I was ecstatic with the idea of a quarantine:
a surmise so perfect
for a homebody like myself.
It was an opportune reason
to shy away from certain encounters
and to spend hours wrapped in the embrace of a cozy blanket.
It’s as if the world slowed down, so that I could see the value of every minute.
Perhaps this was the reason that cabin fever struck at a much later time
than those around me.
I relished being home, surrounded by loved ones, strengthening existing
relationships
that had been subdued by both time and distance.
I was given the headspace, to finally pursue interests I had only longed to try.
Yet even then, there were wisps of time,
where I would sit on the porch, whipped coffee in hand
and just feel sorry for everyone crushed by the toils of the year, myself
included.
I thought of those, with no choice but to work in unsafe conditions:
those who suddenly had their meals vanish from the table,
those who had fallen fifteen steps after climbing ten towards their dreams.
People say just surviving is a feat itself, I agree;
humbling moments that anchored people to the ground
and thousands of lessons learned along the way.
So, I’d like to share just one of mine.
I have chosen a career in which a patient’s social situation
is of equal importance to their health.
I thought my eyes were already wide open, yet there was still room
to open them further, after witnessing how a crippling blow
in the right place, at the right moment, could bring a man
on his knees
and how a stranger passing by, who carries the remnants of a similar blow
could help the fallen man back on his feet, so that he then could do the same
for others,
down the road.

Aarushi Aggarwal is a medical student at the Long School of Medicine,
UTHSA, Class of 2022.

Visit us at www.bcms.org 39