'sweet and savory', a post from jon higgins at yet real

{image of old dhaka}

this is a cross post written by a friend who i have tremendous respect and admiration for. he’s currently in bangladesh working and learning to be a doctor and caring for people in a professional capacity, and has lived abroad a number of times before. he’s also a writer, takes some beautiful photographs, and is a stud. i hope you'll see firsthand all of those things through this post.

thanks, jonanna, for sharing!

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I don’t remember the last time I ate apples and peanut butter. But today, I did just that.

Sitting semi-comfortably under a roaring ceiling fan, each bite an enticing mixture of sweet and savory, creamy and crunchy, juicy and thick. It brought me right back to apples with Papa watching Mets baseball before bed, back to our 7922 Elati Circle dining room table, back to my childhood.

And therein lies the lesson.

For I think I was already in such a place. This simple culinary reawakening was a symptom, not a source.  In the face of uncertainty, in a new city, culture, and set of relationships, where I can’t even tell what kind of meat composes two-thirds of the items in my fridge and where late night Taco Bell runs require two 8-hour flights, I was reverting to a child-like state. Good thing I didn’t start sucking my thumb. 

I have found that the difficulty in moving is often as much about the transition as it is about the place left behind or found anew. The humility found here, when stripped down to its core, derives from the inescapable fact that these transitions are like a reversion to childhood.

I can’t read. Anything.

I can’t speak more than three words in the local language.

I can’t drive or transport myself.

I can’t find the way back to my place if I go more than a block away.

These are the characteristics of a 1-2 year old.

Yet in many ways, I am certainly not quite a child again.

I am more experienced: I have made a similar transition thrice before. I am more knowledgeable: I am in 19th grade, with two years of accelerated medical school under my belt. I am more hardened: I made it through my surgery clerkship’s 70-80 hour weeks waking up at 3:30am while maintaining composure to control my gloved hands gingerly yet confidently while operating inside a premature neonate’s abdomen. I have greater responsibility: I am here on American taxpayer dollars to perform clinical research that has the potential to affect many lives for the better.

All of these difficulties, of course, can be overcome to some extent. Quite easily, even, by admitting that I can’t do it on my own, and learning to depend on others. And that’s the rub. My ego stings after such a realization. That is the lesson I am to learn today. Doesn’t go down as easily as my late-night snack.

“And calling to him a child, [Jesus] put him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:5.

I thought I just wanted some apples and peanut butter. But thrown in was a profound and timely reminder into one of the most difficult yet obviously true mysteries of my faith. This is good stuff.

Jon

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originally posted on 'yet real' on 31 August 2011. be sure head over to jon's blog and spend some time reading!