Medicine: A Physician’s Oath

An oath is more than a promise to another. It is also an essential statement on the stuff of which we're made. The Cheerful Oncologist shares his oath in a terrific post, “High in the Sunlit Silence.” He concludes:

… I understand more clearly now why the doctors on M*A*S*H kept working on that fateful day. After catching their breath they looked down at their hands and saw them move; they opened their mouth and heard their voice. The surgeons searched within themselves and concluded that their only usefulness, their only worth in the world was if they kept the promise they made to another human in need. That promise is what fuels the doctor's engine for the magnificent journey called his career. It is the only thing that can lift him high enough to slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God.