Teachers

I first met her when I applied for the residencyin radiology. At that time, she was part of the junior staff. She lookedgorgeous and seemed to havethe perfect family life in my eyes. Ever since, she has beenkind of a mentortome. If someone ask me to enumeratelife coacheswho have influenced me so far, I would say her and my elder sister without hesitation. From Monday to Wednesday last week,theannual Korean radiologymeetingwas held inSeoul;I attended Tuesday afternoon andall of Wednesday. Actually, I wason duty on Monday and Tuesday onbehalf of other staff members. On Tuesday,I dropped byfor a short time just to meet her.Now, sheis living in southwestern part of Korea.Within 30 minutes of short talk, shesaw through the pleasantries and knew myworries. Shegave me heartfelt advice, since she too has been through similar experiences. She is 10 years older than me and she is still working as part of the abdominal radiology department.She has not changed a lot: sheisstillbeautiful and she stillhas on airs of elegance about her.I hadheard that she went through a somewhat tough marital period while she was in the U.S. Anyhow, she overcame it and she has been living happily with her husband in suburb.

On thejourney of life, we meetvarious kinds ofteachers. However, the numberwho influences our life isonly afew. When I look backat my school days, it is not easy for me to recall respectable teachers. Justthree teachersstill residein my memory: two of them wereelementary school teachers and the other one was high school teacher.Ironically, some of them were ratherbelow the average andlefttraces of bad memories.The mostmemorable teachers are the one who gaveme positive comments and pep talksrather than bitter advice. It is true that praise makes even a whale dance!

In Korea,the generalstatus of teachers is still high because of the influence of Confucianism.There were times whentheteacher, king and fathershould be treatedthe same. Althoughthe authority of teacher is different from the old days, our society still needs good teachers. Of course, the definition of "good teacher" depends on the individual's value. I hope my children also havechances to meet the good teacherat critical periods of their lives. Now, I ask myself, “Am I qualified enough to train residents?”

Thanks Jen for wonderful suggestions!