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| Miranda Mason Class of 2019 |
When people ask what branch of medicine
I want to study, it varies often.
Sometimes, I want to be an anesthesiologist, others, an infectious
disease specialist. I’ve considered many
fields, but I always tack one word onto whatever I answer: “pediatric”. I always know that children have to be
included in my career. I’m not quite
sure why I decided to work with children, but I’ve wanted to ever since I was
in elementary school. Kids are just the
best; I knew it then, and I remember it now.
When I stop to consider why I feel that way, at first I wonder if it’s
not just a biological response as a woman.
However, I know plenty of women who have no interest in working with
children whatsoever. They see them as
messy, uncontrollable, and difficult to understand. That’s fair, I’d say, and it discounts the
idea that a biological response is what drives me. Perhaps it’s because my mom worked as a
babysitter, then a kindergarten assistant, and helps run an after-school
program which I volunteered with for years.
However, just being around kids doesn’t explain liking them,
either. If that was so, there wouldn’t
be cruel parents. So maybe I recognize
something about children that a lot of people don’t. Maybe I see something precious beyond the
usual, “Awww. How cute!” (Though I do see that as well.)
What do I see? I think it is potential. I once read an article written by a geriatric
specialist, who explained that she would much rather work with old people,
because elderly people have children and grandchildren and friends and
communities who will be heartbroken when they are gone, while a child hasn’t
had time to form many relationships that will suffer if they are lost. My response went something like, “But won’t the
elderly still die in a few years? Does the clock really tick that much
longer? And won’t kids go on to do so
much more?” Working in geriatrics is
perfectly commendable, I just don’t agree with the idea that greater age
somehow means greater value of life. If
anything, I see saving a five-year-old as much more impactful, because that
child may have 90 more years to change the world.
I have done some thinking about my
perspective on human nature, and I’ve arrived at this: humans are inherently
limitless in their possibilities. That
is not to say what type of possibilities; in fact, I think the limitless nature
applies for both compassion and cruelty, selflessness and selfishness, hard
work and sloth, intelligence and foolishness, courage and fear, curiosity and
indifference, progress and regress, and joy and misery. If it is physically possible, I believe a
person can find a way to do it. If it is
theoretically possible, I believe a person can conceive of it. We are creatures of dynamism, creators with
brilliant capacities for all wonders and atrocities. So where do kids play in? I believe they are the best part of the human
population because they are human beings who have yet to be pushed down by the
belief that they can’t change the world.
Kids have the potential to become the greatest of heroes or the most
dangerous of villains. They haven’t
resolved to work miserable jobs or be angry at the world. They haven’t given up on hope and dreams. They aren’t naive for believing they can
become anything, only for not knowing how hard that will be. The innate imagination and curiosity that
makes kids troublesome and ask too many questions is also the dynamic
specialness of being human. They know
something that all too many people forget as they grow up.
I remember watching Baby Geniuses as a
kid, and hearing that babies actually know the secrets of the universe, but
forget those secrets when they learn to talk.
That was always a joke that I thought seemed to have a real basis. Why are so many kids nicer than their
parents? And happier than them too? From
my experience, it is because kids haven’t forgotten what makes life special:
learning and dreaming, building and finding wonder in the amazing world they
live in. Of course, becoming a grown up
requires a lot of tedious, time-consuming work that leaves us feeling
exhausted. Seeing other people cheat and
take the easy way out or get unfair advantages in life may lead to
disillusionment, but for those who can retain that childlike sense of wonder and
determination in dreaming, the world doesn’t have to lose its luster. In fact, if someone can keep their heart and
brain young with hope and curiosity, there are physical and psychological
benefits. There is room for both the
inner-child and the mature passions and knowledge of an adult.
Now, don’t think me foolish for saying
these things. I know that there are
plenty of struggles in the world that are difficult to overcome, and help is
required to allow many kids to escape the difficult miseries they were born
into. However, I don’t believe there is
a solution to a problem in this world which wasn’t thought of by adults who
kept the thoughtfulness and confidence that they first had as children. There isn’t a truly happy person on the
planet who hasn’t retained or rediscovered the hope and dreamy attitude of a
wishful child. I dare you to show me
otherwise! It is interesting to think
that the greatest monsters to ever walk the earth were children first, before
they were corrupted by struggles of the world.
The people who have improved the world most have been those who retain
the wonderful traits of kids. Kids
represent all potential for our future, and how they are treated when young
will determine the future they create. I
suppose that is why I want to work with kids.
I want to make sure that every one of the thousands of children I work
with gets an impression of someone who believes that even though they are small, they are also smart and
important. I want every kid to know that
I believe in them. I wish to see the
future walk through my workplace daily, and I want to make sure they are around
long enough to change the world.
Miranda Mason, a sophomore student from Corinth, Ky., studies biology, liberal studies and political science.