Putting Last Week's Events in Perspective

The Virigina Tech incident last week was certainly sad. Many innocent people were killed by someone who was clearly mentally unstable.

At the same time, however, there was a car explosion in the middle of a market in Iraq that killed over 150 people. That didn't seem to make the news as much that day. What about all the other killings that happen in Iraq on a daily/weekly basis? The media don't make as big of a stink about those either. No one seems to care.

As sad as the VT killings are, I think the country needs to put in perspective what else is going on in the world. Why aren't we more concerned with the unrest in Iraq that we basically brought upon the country? Or what about the people in third world countries who die of infectious diseases for which we have cures or vaccines?

I myself am of course guilty in completely being wrapped up in my own world, and I probably could do more in the service of others, whether to protest the war or gather supplies to send to those who need it more. Still, the events of last week have at least put into perspective for me how centrist Americans can be. At least I have an appreciation of that. Hopefully this realization will inspire me, and anyone else who came to the same realization after last week's events, to be a little less selfish and a little more active.

Almost there

The sun shines so much more brightly when I don't have an exam. :) I've just finished round II of midterms. Phew!

3 1/2 weeks to go before I finish my post-bac! I'm counting down.

I've Been Egged

I was running around the park in front of our house today. As I finished my first lap, out of the corner of my eye I noticed some mischievous children paying attention to me. Within a couple of seconds, I was hit, with an egg or two. The three African-American school aged kids who threw the egg ran away, all dressed in stereotypical giant t-shirts and oversized black basketball shoes. I chased after them for a little bit across the park, but I was covered in egg from head to toe, literally, and my arm was bleeding. In the middle of the park is a youth center, so I went in and cleaned up.

To top it all off, I accidentally locked myself out of our apartment right before running, but luckily my landlord was around when I returned to let me back in the apartment. I called Lawrence, who convinced me to file a police report. I didn't even bother to call the police initially- I didn't know they could do anything about kids throwing eggs. I returned to the youth center in hopes of seeing the kids again, and called the cops from there. A very nice police officer showed up and helped me file the report.

Unfortunately I didn't see the kids again and wouldn't be able to identify them by face since I was running and only saw them out of the corner of my eye. Apparently there is a "community relations" department in the Cambridge Police organization that could have organized school related punishments for them, like detention, if I could recognize them. I didn't even know such a thing existed. Though Cambridge has delinquent kids, it has set up a good system to deal with them.

This stinks. Either I did something really awful, or karma's got something great coming my way. Maybe I'll get into a choice med school. :-/

Sorry I've Been a Slacker

I'll be done with midterms in a week and my semester/post-bac in 5 weeks. Not that I've had much to update on since my last posting, but I'll be back with more on my little life soon enough. Hang tight.

3/4 Done!

After a refreshing Spring Break of R&R, I'm ready for the last quarter of my premed studies. I can't believe I'll be done in less than two months. :)