This pisses me off.
I have this colleague, who is a real loudmouth, an impressionistic person who lacks in real substance and personality. However, she is good at carrying herself, and sells herself well by saying the right things to make her look good. Even things which were not necessarily true. In fact, I've caught her telling outright lies about others before. And she's able to secure a fellowship in GI, one of the most competitive medical subspecialties. And she's always surrounded by people, albeit shallow friendships most of them. Frequent parties, things like that.
Now, take D. A good friend of mine from Vietnam, who is the nicest and most big-hearted person around, and who also happens to be an excellent physician. However, he is not very fluent in English, and thus, doesn't always say things clearly. And people judge him for that; and he is having trouble convincing others that he is a capable person. It's his birthday today. But he's celebrating this alone at home. Even his 'friends' whom he took out for their birthdays, didn't bother to look him up. If i wasn't oncall and had to be in-house, I'd take him out.
Is this place really that shallow? Are people really incapable of judging someone based on more than how they look or speak? This sickens me. But you see it so much in medicine. People who like to show off, whether or not they have real substance, or the backstabbers, are the people likely to go further. What a shame that things have come to this.
Also, maybe I have high expectations from my friends. But when I go the distance for friends, I'd like to know that I can depend on them to do the same for me too. Here, I can't say I feel that of many people. Unfortunately.
I'd like to tell them. "For every time you had to reach for someone in your moments of despair, ask yourself, how many times have you reached out to help someone in need?"