Hello Listervians! My name is Apar Singh and I am a 25 year old turbaned Sikh living in California. The other day I met a patient in the morning that I had been assigned to take care of and after introducing myself she looked at me strangely and asked, “Where are you from?!” I told her I was born in Flint, Michigan but raised in Yuba City, CA in the Central Valley. She smiled and exclaimed, “I was ready to welcome you to the United States of America!” I literally LOL-ed! She was the most pleasant soul I’ve ever met...she just had never seen nor met a person with a turban before. Not racist…but maybe a little ignorant. But that’s OK, I am willing to educate and people are willing to learn. That’s what it’s all about.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am medical student in California currently enjoying living in Monterey Bay while learning medicine at a community hospital in a nearby city that serves mostly migrant workers. I am at a juncture in my life where I have to decide what field of medicine to enter that will subsequently dictate what my life will look like for the rest of my life. Will I be a surgeon and cut people open and live at the hospital? Will I be a community health doc in a small town that everyone knows on a first name basis? Will I be a radiologist and live in a dark room looking at screens all day and be content with minimal human contact? Will I have to move to another part of the country for my training for anywhere from 3-7 years? Will I come out of medical school with the same drive for community organizing and engagement that I came in with?
I met an amazing woman earlier this year…and I want to spend every moment with her, helping her accomplish her dreams to change the world, and I know she will help me do the same. Her training will also take at least another 5 years as well. What are the chances they will be in the same place?
So many questions and concerns, and with no answer…yet. But that’s OK.
I have a Beautiful Life. A Loving Family that put everything on a silver platter for me. Supportive Friends that linked me up with all you caring souls at Listerserv (Thanks Amritpan)! I get to HELP PEOPLE for a living. How cool is that? Answer: HELLA cool.
Feel free to contact me with any or all questions, concerns or comments you have. Or if you just want to talk. I like conversing about Public Health (my nonprofit plug: Google “BPSHI”), Single Payer, Meditation and Ultimate Frisbee to name a few. Thanks for listening!
Random things to enjoy:
“Conquer your mind, Conquer the World.” – Guru Nanak Dev Ji, founder of Sikhism
“Be like the flower that gives its fragrance to even the hand that crushes it.” – Imam Ali
“What an honor we have that we can walk into a room and people can tell us anything and trust us with their health.” – Anonymous Family Practice Physician
Apar Singh
[email protected]
Monterey Bay