They were all so young.
They were all strung out and tired and constantly running from one exam room to the next and rushing between Trauma's One and Two and Three, when it still existed.
Lab Tech's were being fought with mercilessly day after day.
Superiors, the higher ups of medicine were the ones telling them what to do and when to do it, but never how.
That was for them each to learn.
One senior ER resident, one junior ER resident, one Pediatric ER fellow, one Surgical junior resident, and one anxiety-ridden, scared-to-death third year medical student.
Each of them pure and still unaffected by the arrogance of power or Almighty-Godliness that would eventually swallow every doctor.
No, they at the time were simply fighting the good fight.
Helping people who couldn't help themselves and doing so with a million-second thoughts but in the end doing what needed to be done because they cared not about their ego but about humanity.
Those days were the days a young doctor would scramble to get one thing done so they could rush to the next thing, but always having that thought in the back of their mind- 'Why do I do this? Is all of this worth it?'
Because it was what they lived for.
And yes, the sleeplessness, the abuse from the hotshots, and the despair were all worth it in the end.
It was all a means to an end.
An end called medicine that they met, but in the process became the superiors whose voices they cringed upon hearing.
Each of the exhausted young doctors grew in to older, wizened doctors with the knowledge and confidence to see another patient through an illness or patched injury, but also to hold the hand of a patient as they took their last breath.
Yes, it truly was all worth it.
Unfortunately, it also changed each person -- away from humanity and towards something less than God, but more than human...
One senior resident morphed in to an Attending.
One junior resident in to an Attending.
One pediatric fellow in to an Attending
One surgical junior resident in to an Attending
And One terrified medical student in to an Attending.
Each had learned how and each had learned their way...