Tonight, I just got reminded of this statement again.
You know how we medical students sometimes try to look into the future, and can't imagine how it would be like to bear responsibility over others' lives? Ok if you don't, good for you. You're that handful. But for most of us, sometimes we think about it, and it overwhelms us. Look at all those doctors around performing great and wonderous things. Like doctors without borders. Or even just the 'simplest' task, like delivering bad news. Especially a news such as death, or worse still, impending death. Executed perfectly, it greatly eases the pain of their loved ones. It's not just about impressing others, it's not just about climbing the corporate/medical ladder. It's not just about you. It's about other people and their health. And you know health is the most important thing (reads: should be, but many people aren't living like it is anyway) in people's lives. Riches can't buy you health. A doctor's mistakes can't be corrected by compensation.
And then someone comes up to you and says he knows you can do it. You say you hope so too, you want to. He says, more firmly this time, he KNOWs so. The medical course equips you for it, it teaches you what to do in different situations. But now, you've been training all your life. You have the motivation, you have the desire, you have the heart for others. And that is what it takes. That is the doctor you are going to be.
Wow.