There seems to be a lot of movements building these days.
Things to get behind because they sound good.
Things to go along with because everyone else is.
This isn’t new.
It is human nature to join the tribe or fit in because genetically, we’re predisposed to make decisions based on survival.
Did I ever tell you about the time everyone cheated in Naturopathic School?
Yes, future doctors, people you would think want to truly learn, have integrity, and be the best, made a really bad decision.
Bad decisions don’t discriminate.
The class was Embryology. Strangely enough, this was one of the toughest courses in the program.
Around midterm exams, a copy of the Embryology test got into circulation.
Students started passing it around, covertly alerting each other of this perilous treasure.
The rumor metastisized between both the naturopathic and chiropractic classes. You could almost feel the frenzy of excitement as whispers intensified in the hallways and during class breaks.
Tempting? Sure.
A copy of the exam of one of the most difficult courses in the program, a guaranteed good grade, and zero need to stress about studying for a test when there were multiple other tests to study for at the same time.
There’s the catch, right?
Giving in to an enticing temptation before thinking. Have you ever done that?
Here’s how the story ended.
I refused the exam. It wasn’t right. It was a shortcut, and though I didn’t realize it at the time, it was a pinnacle moment in my professional career.
But the story gets better.
Minutes before passing out the midterm the professor was walking down an aisle of desks and saw a student looking at the exam. The professor lost it, and with good reason. He had just found out someone stole the exam from his office.
He not only outed everyone who miraculously got an “A” on this exam, when the average grade of all past classes was a “C”, but got back on everyone with a brand new, harder than ever before final exam.
Perhaps the best part, however, was when I wrote a letter to my colleagues stating how pathetic cheating on an exam was, especially for future professionals.
If someone was to do something as stupid as to take a short-cut on a midterm exam, where else would they take shortcuts?
With patients?
With research?
Stealing someone else’s information and pretending it's yours?
How people handle little challenges often reflects how they will handle big ones, too.
Am I perfect? No. No one is.
It is not about perfection.
Instead, it is about discernment, which now more than ever, seems to be disintegrating.
That is why we mean it when we sign our emails, “raising the bar”.
We are teaching concepts that will stand the scientific test of time, to fight against the supplement fads, flash-in-the-pan tests, and haphazardly built software programs that were meant to take your money, not help your patients.
Short-cuts may appear to save time now but are ultimately set-backs later.
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