We are not the same

I did my ward round as usual. During the morning round, I will take the opportunity to teach my doctors and the medical students. Teaching is something that I enjoy and love to do. The young doctors, students and my staffs are giving me energy to carry on with my daily work. Toward the evening, normally I still feel that I am full of energy but most of my doctors already looking like dried flowers. They can't even smile. Most of them were getting ready to go home. I used to offer my students extra teaching in the evening especially when the final exam just around the corner, but none of them are interested. I smiled at them and said "very well, up to you children. I am willing to stay back if you want me to". You see, time has changed. During my student days, we have to find senior students or any lecturers with a kind heart to give us extra teaching. Now, teacher offer but no takers. So sad. Never mind. Let me tell you about one of my patient that I saw that morning during my round. I went closer to the bed and introduced myself to the mother. Her baby boy was sleeping. He was only 4 months old and was admitted for bad pneumonia. He was on cardiac monitor and on nasal oxygen supplementation. The mother appeared very anxious. I examined the baby and told her the progress. She asked me" doctor, kenapa anak saya jadi macam ni? Macam mana dia boleh dapat jangkitan paru-paru?". I knew the mother was so worried. I explained to her slowly on the possibilities the mechanism how the infection could have occurred. And then she replied"doctor, anak saya tak pernah dapat sakit teruk macam ni. Termasuk anak saya yang sulung. Dia sihat. Ini adalah kali pertama. Saya jaga anak saya dengan baik, doctor". I looked at her and smile. I told her not to feel guilty on what had happened to her son. It was not her fault. Germs were everywhere and the lungs are exposed to the environment. They can easily get infected by bacteria. I reassured her that her baby will get better with the treatment that we have started. I also told her that her first and second baby is different even though they come from the same parents. I also told her that in life, before you can experience a second time event, you must go through the first time experience. It is normal. I told her about my twins. My beloved twin girls. They are 18 years now. Both of them are completely different individual even though they grew in my womb at the same time. Phenotypically, they are different. One look like Indian with curly hair and the other one look like Chinese with straight hair. The foods that they like also different. The curly hair loves western foods but the other one loves spicy traditional foods. One has allergic disease as well as asthma but none in the other one. They grow up in the same environment, same exposure. same school, same food that they eat and of course, the same teaching and love. However, they are different in many ways. Their thinking process and behavior are completely different. In term of knowledge, also not the same. Basically, in another word, none of us are the same. We have to acknowledge the differences among our children as well as the people around. us. No matter how hard you try to make them to have the same character, you will fail. But you can make the difference smaller in scale. My twin girls that I truly love and admire. You can see the different. They inspire me.