Exam Fear

Our med school exams are less than a week away, and here I haven't even started studying. I think it's because they just don't feel real to me; the last time we had an exam was over four months ago, before summer. Now I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I have a LOT of material to cover before exam week, and I had better sit down and come up with a plan. Of course, I still have to do all my normal work for other elective classes in the meantime. Sigh. Why do I do this to myself? Well, at least I'm doing it now rather than a day or two before they start. One goal I do have is to get through these exams with enough sleep and food in me -- we'll see if I can achieve that!

For instance, why did I phone bank for Obama instead of studying? Well, we know the answer to that -- there are some things that are actually more important than a good grade on a test. I spoke to a very inspiring lady in Colorado who is voting for Obama even though she thinks abortion shouldn't be legal except in very rare circumstances, because she had four children who went to Vietnam and she doesn't want any other mothers to have to go through what she went through. She was 81 years old, and she spoke with a lot of authority. I also spoke to someone who doesn't know who they're voting for, because "even though I'm a Democrat, I don't know if America is ready for a black president. Then again, McCain is too old to be president, and if anything should happen, we'll get that awful Palin woman." I resisted the urge to ask her whether America wasn't ready, or whether she simply wasn't. I forgave her prejudice on the grounds of age, but frankly, I still think it was an atrocious thing to say. And there are others of her generation who can see past melanin -- why can't she? Didn't the civil rights movement move her? It seems like she just stayed still.