1.7

Physicists, mathematicians, statisticians, bureaucrats, and sociologists have a learned
ability to view the world using specific numbers. These numbers help them organize their worlds
into neat, well-defined boxes. The number that was used to define my own academic potential
was calculated at 1.7 upon the end of my high school career. I was fine with this number for
several years, deciding that a life of little circumstance didn’t need a large amount of academic
potential. That was an interesting quirk of life that led me to be so wrong about myself.
Starting adult life working in a high-flow fulfillment warehouse, I found the growing
atrophy of my brain brought along with it a restless non-fulfillment of my own potential. This
feeling grew unbearable and lead me to the US Navy recruiting office where I found a warm
welcome, and a fresh contract waiting for me. US Navy Corpsman is the job I had, and the
lifestyle I lead. Helping those in need of medical aid, while maintaining a level of physical
fitness befitting service alongside US Marines is the honor of all Corpsman, me included.
During my tour of duty, I worked in an inpatient acute care ward, a wound care specialty
clinic, and a United States Marine Corps Antiterror unit. The inpatient ward helped me find a
love for caring for others with hands-on medical interventions while studying for my own
Practical Nursing License. The wound care clinic taught me the importance of proper recognition
of problems, which leads to knowing the best tools to use for the healing of others.
The Marines showed me the responsibility required to work in austere environments,
where the closest other medical professionals may be hours away by air. Within these austere
environments, the only tools at your disposal are carried on your back, making planning a
necessity. Conflict resolution became a necessity as tempers can rise as high as the air simmering
around your patient.
These experiences from my time in the US Navy were life changing and are carried in my
heart still to this day. However, I never lost sight of the true goal: living up to the potential I feel
within. I enrolled at Old Dominion University in a Biochemistry program while working as a
correctional nurse at Norfolk City Jail.
Through my love of healing people, I have found a new purpose to merge with my latent
potential – I will become a medical doctor to give a second lease of life to those many
individuals who have the first one taken by circumstances beyond their control.
I do finally understand more of the truth of things: my potential may never be truly
fulfilled. I can use the hard work I put in to make the world a better place for those who follow
my generation though, and that is enough for me to put in that effort. My biochemistry program
is challenging, but I am happily using the coursework to iron out my unresolved bad student
habits that I carried from high school. Medical school, residency, and a life worth living will not
forgive my bad habits, and neither will I.