http://youtu.be/EQIVWhKhwPA
I hope all of you are taking advantage of a short respite this week of insanity - after our ferocious powderpuff win (Facebook pictures for proof), the races I ran, and an (almost) free weekend (at least no test on Monday!), we are shuffled yet again into our next challenge - the NBME mini-board exams. I can assume that none of us have ever taken this exam before, and that we all have some anxiety for it.
The engagement of examination and studying is non-stop, and the number of unknowns is in itself unknown. Some of us don't even have a preceptor assigned yet.
But in the end, we must keep calm and carry on. This is the essence of character captured in the second movement of Symphony 5 by Beethoven. All of you have probably heard the defining motif of the first movement, as Fate herself knocks on the front door! The second movement is far less ominously foreboding. The first few phrases in the major key give a sense of stoicism, as if one is marching forward with steadfast composure in the face of the most challenging of circumstances.
I remember this coming onto the radio in Boston (WGBH 99.5) back in the summer of 2011. At this time, it was my first try at applying for medical school, with only a few interviews and no offers. I knew I should have waited, as I had a weird and jerky start to the first half of undergraduate career, but I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try.
This was a time of great uncertainty for me, as medical school rejections compounded with job application rejections. On top of that, I was studying, yet again, for the MCATs. One can no doubt imagine the depressive and pitiful state that I was in. On some days, getting up in the morning was the most difficult thing to do. And I remember very vividly, in the middle of June, with my iTunes alarm set at 7 AM to play WGBH, I was awakened by Laura Carlo's announcement of Beethoven's 5th. The first movement was certainly a good wake up call, but I stayed in bed, not moving for the duration. It wasn't until the second movement that forced my volition to get up and say to myself, "I got shit to do."
Fate, if you believe in it for philosophical or religious reasons, has already completed her duty as our pathfinder. Fate knocks on the door, we open it, and invite her in for a hot beverage and Minnesotan hotdish. And the idea conveyed in the second movement is the idea that regardless of what path Fate has assigned to us, it is up to us to make the best of it; to let ourselves divulge into pouting, saying that "Fate is unfair", or something to that liking, does not help our condition in any means. Sometimes, events transpire even when we have no control over them. If one believes in the just nature of Fate, one must grit their teeth, smile, accept the fact that any outcome is the best of all possible outcomes, and tackle her challenges head on, like Val did during the powderpuff game.
But that branch of philosophical discourse is not what I am thinking of. What I think of when I am miserable in the library is how Fate has brought us together. You will make it through this, just like you did with the MCATs, the SATs, the middle school chess competition (I'm a nerd, I know); an added factor is that you will be amongst all of us (FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS WOW THAT'S SO MANY WEEKS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC I BETTER START WRITING AHEAD OF TIME).
And that is an encouraging thought... that we are with each other, not the spam email I send to you every week... but still, I hope you enjoy them!
See you all on the dark side.
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