Humble Gifts

I think I have been very lucky. I have been blessed with:

A lifetime profession which allows me to provide and help others endlessly.

A profession which allows me to achieve ultimate peace and serenity at the end of my lifetime.

I stumbled upon a young lady who was so depressed and on the verge of quitting her life but today she returned to thank me for my tiny little - almost worthless words of support and encouragement that has made a major turning point in her life. I gasped in surprise. 

It led me to believe - that money may not necessarily be the best return from your hard work.

A word of thanks is the humblest gift from the patients. And that is all we need.

We see many patients from all sorts of backgrounds everyday. Some as young as a a few days old.

Some are very elderly and in need of palliative care. Some come in for a tiny piece of reassurance.

Some come in purely as a time-waster. Some come in for a real emergency attention. Which ever case it is, I am proud to be able to help. I am sure Alex feels the same way too.

Some patients may earn only peanuts and live on very little savings.
These five freshly laid eggs from yesterday are "generous" gifts from one of Alex's patients.

Two of my patients have their own orchids and they made me mulberry pie from their fresh produce.

I have never tasted such a beautiful pie in a long while. And mulberry is really rare and expensive too.

Sometimes patients also make me sushi and handmade radish cake for lunch. It was very thoughtful of them but often I have to kindly refuse the generous offer as it compromises my work ethics.

My job requires a lot of commitment yet it may be the most rewarding job in my lifetime.

There are so many individual story and situation I have dealt with in the past four years. From small to big, they all have been very meaningful to me. Just imagine how wonderful it is to see a healthy toddler who had been failed to thrive for almost two years but has now returned to give you a cuddle and hi-5 as a mean of saying thank you. The feeling is incredible and magical.

I have learnt so much from them and I hope I can continue to learn.

Take pride in your job.
Keep working hard.
Live life to the fullest ^__^