Corrected

I've been meaning to write this entry for a while. Usually I think of something I want to write about and I put it off in the name of focusing on my tasks at hand. And then time slips by fast and furious and the thought becomes forgotten, or more tragically, obsolete. This entry is important. It's so overdue it is now awkward, cliche, overdone, but it's still important, so I'm going to push aside relevance and say it. Short and sweet like.

I stand corrected. I was wrong. And I'm happy about it (shocking to hear/read me say that, I know).

A few weeks back I wrote an entry titled Physicianhood and talked about the lack of political engagement from folks in this country. Well, I stand corrected. The last 2 months (and really this last month) have seen an incredible surge of passion and concern from people everywhere in this country. My fellow medical students got excited about the caucus. They attended, they volunteered, they buzzed. The anticipation made it feel like Christmas morning. It's hard to know what it is. Maybe people are fed up, maybe people are scared, maybe people suddenly understand that politics really do effect their day to day lives, maybe people are inspired. Perhaps it's the fact that the image of the politician is getting reshaped. It's no longer just an older white male, entrenched and overdone. A politician can be female, it can be black, it can be young, it can be inexperienced, it can make mistakes, it can change it's mind. And a politician has the potential to be anyone. The cynic in me says it's a trend - it's the hip thing to do right now. Politicking has new faces, new controversy - those things create popularity. Those things get stale. But my optimist tells me to believe that this is the beginning of a new phase in our country's history. It's a baby step towards recognition of what it truly means to be a member of this world. And it's a motion, a small gesture towards changing our unsustainable ways.

Of course, more needs to happen. None of the candidates are putting forth proposals for real change. They are magicians, we are willfully enthralled. But maybe our country needs illusions of change before we can embrace the real thing. A model before construction, a dress rehearsal before the show.

Still, for now, I'm content, gleeful even, to be proven wrong.

I'd love to write more, but medical beckons with the crooked, scolding finger of an old lady.