December 3, 2010

  • Your Caprica Footprints.

     

    The other day I received an email offering 90% savings on a Newsweek subscription.  Before pressing the delete button I noticed that the person the email was addressed to was not me, but my Dad.  How the email ended up in my inbox I have no idea.  He never had an email account and I am not sure he even knew how to use a computer.  Nevertheless, I savored seeing this Caprica footprint of his.

     

    In the Battlestar Galactica (BEST SHOW EVER) prequel, Caprica, one of the main characters explained that during our lifetimes we leave footprints behind in all sorts of ways, shapes and forms.  Whether they be high school transcripts, photographs or emails to those both loved and unloved, they are reminders to others that we were once here.  And Newsweek?  That email was simply a reminder to the world that he was once a physician in private practice who subscribed to Newsweek for his waiting room.

     

    Since receiving the email I have been thinking about my own Caprica footprints and, honestly, I am a little embarrassed by some of the things that I have left behind.  Search long and hard enough and you will find letters/commentaries published in various papers during my fire-breathing conservative stage, pictures of various body parts with women's names on them (it was a joke thing I did with my female subscribers at the time), comments that were borderline flirting (I was single at the time!!), guitar tablatures on sappy love songs I posted years ago, youtube videos of me playing the guitar and singing worship songs, Yelp reviews and other things. 

     

    While exorbitantly fun at the time, the now older and, hopefully, wiser me is wondering what to do now.  I always tell my residents and medical students to practice medicine in retrospect, meaning that if you are unsure of what to do next, imagine yourself years down the road looking back and doing a chart review.  On that future date do you think you’ll be happy with the decision that you made today?  If you are not sure, then change it.

     

    While I cannot go back and change patient care decisions, I can edit some of my Caprica footprints.  Sheepishly, I admit that I went and made private some of my worship videos because I do not think I sounded too good.  And when time permits I probably will delete some of my uber-negative Yelp reviews.  Sure, I had a hoot and garnered some laughs from random strangers, but, really, what I said could negatively impact someone else’s ability to feed his or her family.  And Xanga?  I am seriously mortified by some of the things that I have done (primarily pictures), but thankfully nothing that would get me arrested or disowned by my Mom.  So I am not deleting or making private any entries from the past.  On occasion I like to look back and read about the person that I was back then.

     

    So what is the lesson here?  I would not have to go back and edit some of the inappropriate things that I have done, if I had not done them in the first place!  I have decided that from this day forth I am going to try and live life in retrospect, because after all is said and done, I want my footprints to remind the world that not only was I here, but that I also tried my best to make it a better place.

     

    Oh, and that email from Newsweek?  I decided not to delete it.  I’m not ready to let go of every little piece of my Dad’s time on this earth.  Never will.

Comments (7)

  • Good lesson.

  • i was going thru my subscriptions last week and cleaning out annoying people and those who no longer bog. turns out, you're one of the FIRST subs i had that never quit! it's a record.

    i recall your entries from your single days and don't remember you being TOO outrageous. you just used a lot more colorful wordplay than now and some silly analogies. but nothing that would stop you running from office. foot prints are good!

  • i'm proud of you for not deleting your past...it takes a secure person to do that!

  • Hmm...now I want to delete half my comments, haha. Thanks, Frank, for reminding me of what a terrible person I am. jk, this was a good thought.

  • i really like that you got an email addressed to your dad. kind of like that stupid movie where the guy dies and then writes all those letters to his wife to be delivered at different times after his death? or like the time traveller's wife where she's waiting and waiting for his next appearance from the past? okay, like all of those things but not stupid.

  • i hear ya. a patient left a piece of paper in the waiting room and written on it was "i love animals more than people, except rosie...she is a nice woman".

  • "my fire-breathing conservative stage" hahaha

    "comments that were borderline flirting" what's wrong with that? ;)

    Mmm... good post. I miss your Xanga wisdom, Dr Franksabunch!

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment