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Welcome to another issue of Osteopathic Family Physician.

The past month, I have been honored to be a part of a graduation ceremony for over 150 new Osteopathic physicians. Over 65% were going into Primary care and nearly a quarter of the graduates were going into Family Medicine – I’m hoping a wonderful group of new readers for the OFP! Being around students interested in Osteopathic Family Medicine and working with Family Medicine residents has helped me remain optimistic about the future of Osteopathic Family Medicine and allowed me to meet an incredible cohort of individuals with talents above and beyond taking another test. One of those students of Family Medicine submitted the poem below and I felt it to be appropriate for this journal. In the end, we are all students of Family Medicine – enjoy the learning!

 

AT THE CROSSROADS OF EMPATHY

I walk into the room,
“what brings you in?”
attempting to box
the pain I see
in your eyes

into a 30-minute encounter

 

and there
I feel it instantly,
the heaviness you carry inside
but where, where do I put it down?

 

you apologize to me
for taking up my time,
for not holding back the tearsand for a second, I realize, how truly
insignificantare my own worriesand my own fears

as I begin to tell you,

don’t be sorry, this is exactly
what my time belongs to
from the moment
I took an oath to

help you heal you

you feel ashamed for your pain
and I feel hypocritical
telling you not to be ashamed
when I don’t tell
my own heart

the same

you finally find the
words to speak
you tell me
you lost your son
when all your life
you thought it would be

the other way around

I tell you death
doesn’t care about age
and still I can’t save you
from the aching

from the rage

so all I do is listen

and I listen:
I place this stethoscope
on your chest, and I can hear your heart
pounding, telling me—
“I just don’t know
where to put it down.
please tell me,
where I can put it down”
By Anusha Abbas, OMS III
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the
Pacific Western University of Health Sciences