Gravitas

[poliphilo]

It's weird to discover that my doctor is more afraid of me than I am of him.

"In the days beyond compare and before the Judgements"* doctors and dentists were authority figures. The first doctor I had when I moved to this place was an old navy man.  He was around the age I am now, wore a blazer and handed down the law from on high. He made such an impression on those around him that they honoured him in retirement by naming the practice after him. It still bears his name, even though the present generation of doctors never had anything to do with him.

My present doctor had to ring me yesterday to give me the results of my tests. Obsequious is the wrong word, but he was very eager to please- and nervous that he might fail to do so. He was delivering what he supposed I might interpret as bad news and was quick to mollify and console. "It's nothing to be paranoid about," he suggested.

Indeed it isn't. I've got high cholestrol and he's giving me pills to bring it down.
 
I worry about many things- mostly involving interaction with other human beings (I don't trust the tricky, little buggers)- but not about a thing like that.

Of course he isn't to know. And I'm a well-spoken, senior gentleman. From a distance- especially when I'm wearing one of his coats- I might be mistaken for my father. So maybe this isn't about doctors losing their gravitas, but about me acquiring some. Now there's a thought.

Because like everybody else- including those mountainous doctors and dentists of yore-  I'm just bluffing my way through this life, hoping not to be found out.



*R. Kipling, Dayspring Mishandled

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I have as my signature on another bulletin board "We're all faking it" - a hard won lesson.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We all truly are- even Barack Obama, even Her Majesty the Queen, even the Pope, even Mick Jagger.....

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

It tickles me to discover I am the same age or older than some of my care providers, instead of them being like parents in my eyes. I have a few years on my chiropractor, and that amuses me whenever he serves me.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I still do what my doctor tells me, of course- even though he is a mere slip of a boy ;)

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

LOL. When i had surgery several years ago, a bunch of young residents were on the heels of my surgeon (ala "House"). they were all so young. they looked like children to me. Heh heh.

i made them laugh and giggle--then they'd look apprehensively at the surgeon as if they might get in trouble. But he was cool with it and just smiled.

behind their backs, i called them "Doogies and Doogettes" ala "Dougie Houser"

I'm 36...

[mikesmaddie.livejournal.com]

...but I'm told both that I look younger than my age and that I act older than my age (some days I would very much debate this!).

So I guess I'm 'in between'. *BG*

Hope that you and yours are doing all right, that things are going okay, and that the rest of the day goes all right for you all.

God bless and take care. ;0.
Olga/Maddie

Re: I'm 36...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The question is "how should a 36 year old person act- and look?"

My mother- who is 87- says she still feels like she's 21.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank heavens for well-educated, young people!

[michaeljohngrist.com (from livejournal.com)]

Are we all faking it? The doctor is not faking expertise surely, so what is he faking- confidence? Give him some more years of experience in his role, and he'll trust his judgement better and will he then be faking it? When he speaks, he'll know he speaks with the authority of years of education and years of experience. That puts him on another level from normal people who are not doctors. Is he still pretending around them?

Likewise for any profession or skill. If you're a damn good pianist, or sniper, or whatever, then surely you are not pretending. If you actually deliver the goods, consistently, how is that pretend?

You mention Obama. His assets, the things that make him what he is, are his intelligence, legal and community service grounding, plus family and upbringing. He is those things, and he is practised and skilled at speaking and debate. How is that pretend?

Perhaps you mean something else, and I've missed the point?

You have...

[mikesmaddie.livejournal.com]

...a point there. *BG*

And your Mom sounds like quite a wonderful person. *big smile*

Hope that you had a wonderful time celebrating on your birthday (where I am), that you and yours are doing all right, that things are going okay, and that today goes all right for you all.

God bless and take care. :).
Olga/Maddie

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No, I reckon I mean what I said.

We're all little children inside. We develop a shell- maybe we come to identify with the shell- but underneath it we're still afraid. Great actors still- some of them- throw up before going on stage. And we're all just one step away from having our expertise exposed as fake.

That's why great men develop paranoia- why stars isolate themselves from their fans.

No-one is qualified to be President of the USA. No-one is sufficiently wise, smart, ruthless, brave.

[michaeljohngrist.com (from livejournal.com)]

Ok- but in your examples you're talking about a more elusive thing than I was- popularity and fame. These people are riding the zeitgeist, not sure if they're riding it cos they really own it, or they're just teetering on the edge having been swept up in a random tsunami.

What about real skills- like a doctor, or a pianist, or a sniper? Sure they may fear failure, but do they feel like little children inside? Hmm. Short of just screwing things up and forgetting their training (in which case they can't have trained too effectively), they know they can do the same thing consistently and under stress. They have practised for many hours and know they are good.

About POTUS, I dunno. It seems redundant to say no-one is qualified, because we are all we have, so someone must be qualified. And if that person knows his/her brain is good- from having tested it against the best in the world, and his/her experience is good, also having tested that, and is a self-made man/woman who built the wave they're riding on, what's to fear?

This is one reason I like Obama- he really seems to own everything he does. He gets it. McCain was just floundering on his surf board, trying to pull off 360's when he barely even knew where the wave was or his feet were. Obama is on a wave he built, so he doesn't need to do tricks. If the people go off him, will he be shattered? I think not, cos his wave is not built on their love- it's built on other things that are more solid than that.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never been a highly trained specialist, so I don't really know, but I think self-doubt keeps us human. No-one likes a big-head. I think a professional who has no doubts at all about his competence is riding for a fall.

Everyone fails sometimes- and no-one stays on top of their game forever. Sooner or later you have to hand over your place at the head of the stairs to some younger, hungrier contender.

Power corrupts- and it will corrupt Obama the way it has corrupted every other person who's held the job. It's because of this that the Constitution limits presidents to two terms in office. Thus far I'm impressed by his performance- and I hope he goes on the way he's started.