SY: Hippocrates Oath

NaPoWriMo Challenge Prompt Week 3:

Last week, we wrote portraits of families. Today, let’s turn our vision outward, and write fan letters. I challenge you to write a poem in the form of a fan letter to a celebrity. Now, this could be a celebrity from long ago, and needn’t be an actor or singer (though it could be). You could write to George Washington or Dorothy Dandridge, Marie Curie or The Weeknd.

Dear Hippocrates,

I applaud you for your ideals,
For the principles you uphold,
How in your service you keep it real,
To have virtues solid as gold.

You swore an oath, so did I,
You to the gods and mine to the people,
To the best of my ability judgement till I die,
This covenant to serve and be reliable.

By the steps of the infamous geniuses before me,
I walk their paved path by their knowledge,
In no way selfish to share what they have taught me,
Learning never stops at any age.

Truthfully, every day is walking through landmines,
To balance when to soldier on with all artillery,
Avoiding those twin traps between fine lines,
Of over treatment and therapeutic nihility.

Everybody has forgotten there is an art to medicine,
Beyond the science, and pharmaceuticals,
Warmth, sympathy, and understanding are in unison,
To outweigh the surgeon's knife and other radicals.

Pride and ignorance plagues our minds,
Refusing to say "I know not," and ask for assistance,
Until a patient dies at their hands they find,
It haunts their memories with the secrets of their resistance.

Confidentiality is our biggest infidelity,
What was disclosed becomes tea time Conversations,
Forgetting our patients' privacy,
We play God thinking we know best about their decisions.

Rebooting the mentality of treating diseases,
Remembering that they are also mere humans,
With different economical statuses,
Not bed numbers and data for statisticians.

Many have stop the ideation of efforts to prevention,
Instead of giving healthy lifestyle advice,
We push drugs in order to gain commission,
Now society has to pay a hefty price.

Thanks to you and your reputation,
Us doctors remain a respected member of society,
Even when we disregard our special obligation,
We turn a blind eye to most when we are off duty.

I truly wish this race of modern physicians will stand,
For the oath that you have bestowed upon us, 
That we will in return enjoy life and art and understand,
The affections to preserve this tradition is our calling and purpose.

Bless our journey oh Hippocrates,
May our failures and disappointments be banished,
May we renew our hearts with gladness,
And say that we have treated well when we finish.

Sincerely,
- Dr. SY
20:08H TMS HQ



SY is a 'Jacqueline of all trades' who loves wearing plaids.
She doesn't believe in things that fade and fulfills the promises that she made.
She seeks the hearts of the troubled, to be a listener in times when things are doubled.
She's the kind who stands in the gap, who will only call it quits when it's a wrap.

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