Does Medicine Kill Talent and Creativity?
‘For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave 5 talents, to another 2, to another 1.’ ~Mat 25: 14 -15
I had one major #talent before I entered medical school – I could draw really well. I could look at a picture and reproduce it naturally without any software or grid lines. That was many years ago.
The other day I tried to draw a portrait, I couldn’t make head or tail of what I was doing. My hands felt like another person’s. I felt as if power had left me, It was just like black panther:
“DEH PRINCE WILL NOW HAVE DEH STRENGTH OF DI BLECK PENTAH STRIPPPED EWEH”
People have gone into #Medicine as budding musicians, actors, storytellers, photographers, debaters, orators, football prodigies etc and come out as just doctors.
The medical curriculum, at least as it is designed in Nigeria is made to break you and subdue you. You are grateful at the end of the day to be allowed to come out and pick up your life from where you dropped it; but truth is you never regain it, not as you would like it. A whole new phase of exams, call duties, more failures and work begins, that may well sap the rest of your life if you’re not careful.
But there are others like Kiki Omeili, a Nollywood actress that obtain their medical degrees and immediately dump medical practice to follow their talents. Not to say there are not a few that adequately combine medical practice with their talents. No, I don’t mean Small Doctor.
So, what do you think? Does Medicine really kill talent and #creativity, or is the practice of medicine itself a talent?
And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents. His master said to him, ‘well done, good and faithful servant’. Mat 25: 20-21
I would say that the first problem is that creatives have no business studying medicine in the first place unless of course they are passionate about medicine. One of the best artists I know is a medical doctor (Dr Monica Irefo,I’m talking about you). In secondary school,she could draw anything.and I mean anything.
It’s not the easiest thing leaving medicine to explore your creative side.It is fraught with challenges and then there is the “what will people say” factor. That being said, being a good doctor requires patience,empathy and good investigative skills. So,yes; the practice of medicine effectively is in itself, a talent.
Cheers.
Thank you Kiki, your first line is indeed food for thought.
I am trying to explore my creative side too and I must agree, it isn’t easy.
The first line is spot on. Medicine has a career gives little or not took for creativity. Creativity involves trying and exploring things. Unfortunately, this is limited in medicine because you are dealing with lives. In my oppinion, I really don’t think conventional medicine by default gives room for creativity. It is about guidelines and guidelines.
At the time I resumed medical school in 2006, I was a budding actor who could switch roles in split seconds. It was so easy, not forgetting the humorous flesh I add to it, in addition I was such a great writer. At a point down the line I remember I had drop everything on me and focus on studying. It was the only logical option when you imagine spending 9years to obtain a degree that should ordinarily not take more than 6 but in my case the chronic strike action my school embarks on due majorly to political issues. I could not afford to add an extra year to that already long years as a result of loss of focus.
Here I am now lost in the pit searching for my talents where I threw them. Although I have picked them up from where they were dumped but surely they are broken and as such not a whole.
Definitely, medicine kills talents naturally but the onus is on the individual to not allow the apocalyptic apoptosis to come to play.
Thank you Philip, you’ve summed it up quite concisely. When one dumps his/her talents and tries to pick them up after medical school, it is hard because you’ve not kept up with innovation and changes in the industry, so it is almost like starting from scratch.