Chapter 29: Chapter 29

~Ariana's POV~

"How do I look?"  I asked as I walked into the living room where everyone was gathered, my presentation was today and the doctor's conference would begin at noon, it was 11:30am already so we had just about half an hour to get there, I needed their opinion on my choice of outfit which consisted of a snug white female dress shirt tucked into a black form fitting female suit pants that perfectly accentuated my curves, my afro hair was styled in a faux hawk, my make up was light and natural and a black heel and minimal jewelry completed the look .

"Gorgeous, I mean considering I seem to be the only one without my jaws on the floor, it's obvious you look good." Kay replied glaring at everyone else in the room and I laughed.

"She's right, you look amazing baby." Sky informed me with an approving grin. Her words seemed to snap Jay and Lon out of it as they both flashed her a glare before turning to me.

"Perfection." Jay said, walking up to me and placing a kiss on my lips, I smiled up at him before turning to Lon.

"You're beautiful love." He said, with a wink and I laughed again.

"Everyone ready?" I asked and they all nodded.

"Alright, let's go then." I said, leading the way out of the mansion.

~Talon's POV~

We arrived at Ana's university and she lead us to the hall where the presentation would be taking place, the event had already began and the hall was packed with doctors and the students who were aspiring doctors.

A course mate of hers had reserved us seats and we all settled down in the audience watching the different people give their speeches and waiting for my mate's turn.

"The representative of the third year students of the medical department, an outstanding student whose commendable academical performance has won her the respect of numerous professors in our institution as well as her fellow students, let's welcome with a round of applause, one of our most outstanding students.... Ariana Ebere." The master of ceremony announced and I grinned, leaning back so she could pass freely, she stood up and threw us a wink before confidently walking up to the stage.

She exchanged a handshake with the MC before turning to the crowd and flashing a dazzling smile and somehow I knew I and Jay weren't the only ones who were affected by that smile, my sensitive hearing picked up accelerated heart rates and I grumbled in annoyance but pushed aside my dissatisfaction, deciding to focus my attention on my amazing mate instead.

She was quiet for a bit, letting the applause and excitement from her course mates die down before she began.

"I have a confession to make...." She started,

"You know, as I sat in the audience listening to the motivating words of aspiring doctors like myself and fully fledged doctors who honored us with their presence, I had a particular reoccurring thought..." She paused a bit and I could see the whole crowd was already fully invested in her words,

"I realized how we all are here, chasing a similar goal physically but a completely different goal mentally and emotionally, also how different our starting points and growth processes have been so far." She said, chuckling softly, her voice was bold and confident and not even a hint of hesitation or stage fright was expressed, it was as if she didn't even realize she was currently addressing thousands of people.

Her features evened out after her slight chuckle and took on a professional look.

"A very Good afternoon to you all, it is an unimaginable honor to stand before you today, the people who have been and are currently the very best in our prestigious field and likewise people who will carry on this legacy."

"For the past week or more, I pondered over what I would say here today, fully aware that I am representing the whole third year of the medical department, coming up with a worthy speech that gave effective answers to the question laid out by the judges was admittedly challenging, however now that I'm actually standing here, I don't believe any of the preparations I made previously is fitting for this occasion, so if the judges don't mind, I have decided to just honestly speak my mind." She announced, glancing at the judges for approval, once a nod was given she smiled, before turning back to the audience.

"The judges wish to know our individual reasons for choosing this path, my colleagues have all given quite inspiring answers, which brings me back to how we all are chasing a similar goal and yet have different stories to tell.

I don't particularly have an answer to the question asked by the judges as I honestly do not know why I chose to become a doctor, but everyone has a story to tell and if the audience is willing to listen, I will tell mine." She paused again, a honest smile on her lips.

"On the way here, I couldn't help but notice once again the towering buildings of numerous floors, the well constructed roads and in here, I can see the waiters going round with bottles of drinking water, while we are currently here for a conference the university hosts yearly, providing an opportunity for students to exchange ideas and meet accomplished people in their course of study which goes to show the commendable educational system here..... I grew up in a country where all such amenities and privileges weren't readily available, lack of good roads, good education and even good health care facilities were limited, some states being worse off in the sense that the aforementioned amenities were practically non existent, I was lucky enough to be born in one of the states that fared a little better than the rest, however it wasn't by much since my family wasn't financially accomplished anyways, as such there wasn't much we could hope to amount to, so honestly rather than becoming a doctor in particular, my passion had always been to break out of that enclosure, and shed myself of the sentiments I had acquired from my environment, in my bid to accomplish this, I turned out to be someone who readily accepted and even enjoyed challenges, so considering the difficulty attributed with the process of becoming a doctor, the challenge it posed was honestly too intriguing for me to ignore,  funny right?, but that honestly is what lead up to this point." She paused once again, at this point the entire hall was quiet,  her words had everyone completely invested in them.

"And then, the judges wanted to know who a doctor was to me. Honestly, in my early years, to me a doctor was someone I absolutely detested..." the judges passed each other baffled looks at her words and the crowd whispered slightly but she didn't seem fazed, instead she smirked at their reactions before proceeding.

"I was about 4 years old when my dad passed away, he was diagnosed with acute kidney failure and passed away after being discharged due to the hospital lacking proper amenities for treatment, now, most of us know that acute kidney failure, although fatal, can actually be treated, if discovered in it's early stages as it was in my dad's case, the treatment options range from a change in diet, to the use of medications or even dialysis, a kidney transplant was also a viable option, but it seemed the doctor in charge didn't think so. As my father's coffin was lowered into the grave, I remember thinking within me 'lord please, I'm not ready to say goodbye', but it just kept going down and at that point my 4year old self wished, that someone somewhere could have saved me from the pain I felt at my loss, that the doctor had at least tried, having no one else to blame, that unfortunate doctor became my victim and as I grew up, my animosity ultimately became associated with doctors in general." She smiled sadly at this point and I felt my heart ache immensely for my mate, who had to go through so much at such a young age, I pushed down the urge to rush up there and pull her into a hug.

"I'll cut short my tale due to the limited time,  as fate designed it, a chanced meeting with the wife of that particular doctor some years later revealed he had also passed away, due to the same illness that took my dad's life. I was shocked at this information, I had always blamed him for not doing his best, but this news made me realize that he wasn't just being a coward, the facilities and expertise were honestly not available, not even for him, at that moment I realized two things,

One... I had immensely wronged a honest doctor." She shook her head slightly, the doctor's in the crowd all had a solemn look at the unfortunate ending of a fellow doctor.

"My second realization was that, doctors are humans too, not some divine being that possessed abilities to make everything right, they're not perfect but they try, despite how difficult we and society in general made things for them.

So here's my answer, Society wants Doctors to be perfect, Society wants us to know all the answers and never say the wrong things,

Society wants a perfect person in their most imperfect times...."

"The fact is, we're not perfect, we're not above morality or mortality.

When people say 'your family must be so proud that you are or will be a doctor' it gives us pause, because we alone know our challenges.

With schedules frequently packed with 16 hours work days, we see our studies and work interfering with our home life, our hobbies and our personalities in general.

We have family members that get sick, we suffer from depression and exhaustion at rates higher than any other profession, we long for meaningful relationships we could get invested in and our children and friends have lives we wish we could attend to.

We try to act confident but always second guess our decisions because that's just how it is when you have someone's life in your hands, we take our worries home with us, our patients are always on our minds even while we eat and they keep us up late at night, worrying and researching.

That's the reality of Doctor's, the reality the world doesn't know."

"So if you ask me who a doctor is to me, I would say a doctor is one I have wrongfully accused  and hated, a doctor is one I and society failed to understand, a doctor is an imperfect human whose struggles the world will never understand, a doctor is a person whose one wrong decision makes the difference between life and death, a doctor is one whose pain includes both personal and that which stems from the burden he shares with his patients and their families, and yet, despite all this, it is who we are and who we have decided to become.

So if the audience would stand in a moment of respect, for the family functions we missed due to work or studies, the parts of our children's life we couldn't partake in,  the hours we spend studying daily, the free time that has now become just a dream to us, the patients who in their pain have and will blame us for countless misfortunes.

This is the path we have chosen, it is what we love and should we be asked if the sacrifice is worth it, I'm sure you would all agree with me when I say yes!, It definitely is." She concluded as the crowd stood and as she walked down the stage the resounding applause of the awed audience was literally deafening.

She grinned at us before taking her seat as the judges went up the stage.

"I honestly do not know what to say......" The judge began in amazement and the audience laughed.

" It's been a long time I have been as emotionally affected by anything as I was by the speech of this young woman and she's what? 19?!" The judge exclaimed and I chuckled at his expression as my heart swelled with pride already knowing my mate would win this, I wasn't wrong.

"I don't believe there's need for any deliberation, everyone here heard clearly and probably already know the winner, I'm sure all opponents would agree." The judge stated, the crowd murmured in agreement.

"Alright then, if that outstanding young lady along with the third year students would please come forward once more and receive your rightly deserved award." The judge asked and Ana stood up and walked to the stage with her course mates, receiving a certificate of excellence.

"Knowing that the next generation of doctors consists of talented people like yourself is indeed a comfort, I was immensely humbled by your words, I am glad I was able to witness your presentation." The judge informed Ana, before giving her a handshake.

After letting her course mates have their go at congratulating her, I, Jay and the rest of our friends stole Ana back and left to celebrate.