What am I doing here?

It’s a question some might be asking of me at this point. It’s a question I find myself asking at various times myself. Why would a 26 year old medical student who is one year away from doctorhood leave his friends, his family and move to a place where most of the country is poor and sick? Some people totally understand. They might even be excited and wish that they could come along for the ride. Its always nice to run into those people, and it’s the way most of my close friends have reacted.
For other people, its often a conversation haulting realization. They ask what I do, where I am in medical school. I tell them I am actually taking a year off to do AIDS research in South Africa. Then they look at me with a sense of confused pity in their eyes and say “Oh, right… so, like, what are you doing that for?” This comment often comes from those corporate types who realize that there is obviously no money to be made or career advancement to be had in treating poor ass sick people in South Africa. Several weeks ago when I was in DC for my training, I just stopped telling people who I thought wouldn’t understand. I went out with group of friends from Vanderbilt. The people who knew me well from college understood why I was going. It was their friends who seemed to almost feel sorry for me, as if this were something that happened to me, not something that was actually sought after and competed for. Its like I was telling them I had cancer, or just got sentenced to a year in prison. I would love to explain why, and have them understand, but I typically dont try. So thanks to all of you who do understand.