Why pancakes?

"They'll never get caught. They're on a mission from God."

This morning a handful of my friends and I will be making free pancakes and coffee for our other med student friends. I've had several people ask us why we do this. I can't speak for the rest of the guys, but I figured I should at least speak for myself. 


Let me start with a sidenote - there's this interesting phenomenon that I've noticed. The most successful addiction treatment, AA, is run and was created by alcoholics. Similarly, black doctors make great role models for young black students. There's a reason for this phenomenon, alcoholics understand the struggle of alcoholics. I like to think they have a unique calling to help alcoholics. 

When I realized this, I struggled for a long time to find my own mission. Did I care about dying families in Haiti? Drug addicts? Well, I had never grown up in rural poverty or been addicted to drugs, so those were out. Eventually I realized, God sent me to help med students. Med students are my people. My best friends are med students. I love med school. I want to match at a competitive residency. I'm super type A. I love efficiency. I understand the med student life. I live and breathe it.  

I'm passionate about so many different sides of medicine. At different times in my life, I've wished I could be Paul Farmer/Roger Mee/Brian Druker. Realistically, I can't approach any of those guys. Instead I wanted to make my life about serving and mentoring medical students - working in academia. I want to figure out ways to empower med students so they can leave med school and change the world in millions of different ways that I could never fathom. 

Among the many facets of med student life - one thing I'm particularly passionate about is the role of the hidden curriculum in physician burnout. I believe the quality of healthcare could be improved by producing more passionate and less burned out med students. And that brings me back to the beginning, this is why I make pancakes. 

One of the promises I made to myself when I started sidenote was that I would live a life where my long-term goals were a part of my everyday life. sidenote - that's a big reason I write this blog. I want to entertain my fellow med students, and share our common story so we can all remember - we're in this together. I didn't want to start serving med students when I eventually become dean of medicine in thirty years. I want to help med students right now, by helping med students take a break, even in shit-hit-the-fan times like neuro test week. I want med students to come together and talk about life. I want them to come out of isolation and be in community. Even if it's only to come eat free pancakes and drink super strong coffee. 

Help me help you. 11:30 AM today in the lounge. Tell your friends. 

see you on the other side,

from ken

enjoy sidenote in 140 characters or less @kensidenotelife.