Once upon a time in a city which had no border....

Once upon a time in a city which had no border and no leader and where people were appointed from other cities by a big boss lived a young gentleman who worked in a modern superstore. The superstore was very modern made for rich people, but poor would also come for their special needs. The young man was from the middle class but with a heart beating for poor people. His life was very interesting, selling for rich and poor. There were times when upper class people would come and would expect workers to work for them as servants. One day a friend of mayor who was appointed by the big boss to keep a close eye on the mayor came to the superstore. Entering the store, he was welcomed by the young man. With the mentality that all people living in the city were servants of mayor and his big boss he even didn’t look to the young man. With his head up and eyes in the sky and streaks on forehead he started asking questions from the young man. The young man was answering the questions calmly. Though the young man had good education, but to the proud buyer he was just a stupid servant. After few questions the cubby friend of mayor understood that he was facing an educated gentleman, and that he would never bow his head as servant to him. During buying his needs they were talking about mayor. The chubby and proud friend started complaining from the mayor, that he was doing what he wanted and acting in a one man show manner, and people around the mayor were stupid. This conversation ended shortly with some more complaints. The young man wrote a part of the story in his diary, which other people could also read. The intention of the young man was to show what kind of people were ruling on the city, with stupid kind of mentality. Months passed from this story, many people read it. One day an important person from the super market came, exploding from anger, with shaking voice shouted why he has written such thing. In that city writing about mayor and his band was not allowed. He was warned to erase the story otherwise he would go to jail for such kind of “CRIME”. The young man resisted and accepted the risk, just to tell the truth to his people, but letter on he thought he has other ways to resist against the imposed system. So he tore that page from his diary and put it in a secure area. The young man is still in that city, with stronger faith against what was imposed on his city from outside. He has promised to write more and talk more with his people. He has planned to work more with poor people, to sell cheaper to poor ones. He has promised to take any risk in the favor of city, even if it takes his life.

Where to Find Professionalism?

Almost a year ago at this time I was so happy that is hard to explain. In these days I was joining back family. I had been working for a year in very remote areas of the country with challenges. Though I was losing a lot in terms of better salary, but joining family and the new job I was offered in one of private hospitals in the capital were better then everything I had at that time. And now it is almost a year I am here in a private hospital, working as consultant family physician. Working in Samangan, Badakhshan and in a private hospital showed me different faces of professional life in my country. In CURE we were in an academic place, working as pure professionals, thinking as pure professionals and acting as pure professionals. I was thinking I will always have this privilege to practice professionalism easily outside, but now I can hardly see the “professionalism” any where, even when I go back to CURE I can not find that real one there too. Instead what I see is business and cheating. How you grow your business and how you cheat a patient to fill your pocket, is something you can easily find anywhere. Seldom someone will care how good service you are giving to a person, but they will surely have a close eye on how much you generate for them. If you are working with a government or a charity NGO, all what they want is to report more, to show them graphs of your activity, no matter what was the quality. And if you are working in a private industry all what you need to do is to generate them money. Money and business on patients health were two enemies of mine when I was in training, but working in this corrupt environment is slowly making me immune to them. There have many instances that I have advised investigations or prescriptions, but my little man has shouted “Aziz! Are you sure your patient really needs it or it is a matter of your own business?” and there have been times that I have torn papers just to make sure that I am not doing any business. To fight this malpractice and this mal-business in private sector, I have planned to go and set my own setting. Am I able to go against the stream or I would be a part of it? I don’t know, but I may judge myself in one year.

Sleepy Times

Migrant worker takes nap in Beijing
A Chinese migrant collecting recyclable trash takes a late afternoon nap on his 'flatbed' tricycle in Beijing on May 14, 2009. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver)

Child sleeps on mattress
A young Chinese boy sleeps outside on a dirty mattress being thrown away in central Beijing, June 12, 2006. Poverty elimination remains an arduous long-term task for China, especially in rural areas which still have large numbers people living in poverty, said Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu at a recent seminar. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver)

Migrant worker sleeps

A migrant Chinese worker sleeps during his lunch break at a construction site in downtown Beijing, June 26, 2006. How China, already scrambling to manage a yawning gap between rich and poor and cope with an ageing population, handles the transition will test the government's ability to create livable mega-cities and prevent the explosion of an urban underclass that could threaten social stability. Beijing already has 15 million residents and state media have quoted authorities as saying they want to limit its population to 18-million by 2020. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver)

Daily Life in Afghanistan

People rest in a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 15, 2009. UPI/Mohammad Kheirkhah

Twin Brothers Born in Different Years

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Two twin brothers were born in different years thanks to their mother giving birth late New Year's Eve in Tampa, Fla., the boys' father says.

Juan Velasco said his wife Margarita underwent emergency surgery at Tampa General Hospital to deliver the twins with the first, Marcello, being born just before midnight Thursday and brother Stephano being delivered shortly after 12:01 a.m. Friday , the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune reported Saturday.

That meant Stephano was the first baby born at the Tampa hospital in 2010 and his brother was the last birth at the hospital in 2009.

"We never think that we would be the first of the year, or the last of the year, nothing like that," Velasco told the Tribune. "But I'm really happy."

Dr. Catherine Lynch, who delivered the two brothers, said despite being twins, the two boys will be able to enjoy their own birthdays.

"So they'll always be twins, but now they each have their own special day," the University of South Florida doctor said