The Two Professors and the Suit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was still a graduate student, I basically wore casual clothes and worn-out shirts and jeans in the university.

One day, Professor A scolded me. “You are a graduate student, not just a student. You should wear suit and tie!”

I didn’t have any particular interest in what I wear, so I bought suits and ties. I started to dress formally in the university.

However, one day, Professor B scolded me. “Don’t try to look good! If you have money to spend on the clothes, you should buy books and should study!”

 I could understand what Professor A and B said. I really respect both of them. As a result, I wore suit and tie when I met Professor A, and I wore worn-out casual clothes when I met Professor B.

 Professor A and B taught me a very interesting lesson: if an adult male, like me, is dressed formally or casually, the reactions of the people I have just met the first time are completely different, especially in daytime during weekdays. Sometimes, the results are good. Sometimes, they are not. If only I can balance formal and casual wear effectively, it would be very convenient.

Picture by maimu

Hiding in the Toilet and Studying

 

 When I was a child, I was a sickly boy. I often caught a cold. When I caught a cold, my mother took me to the hospital that my grandaunt runs. My grandaunt was a medical doctor. She always gave me an injection. Of course, I was scared of her and I hated her. She was a doctor. I had never felt any special feeling about that, but there were many stories about her life.

 This story is not about the grandaunt I mentioned before who had Alzheimer’s disease and who I took care of. This is a different person. This grandaunt is her sister.

 When my grandaunt was younger, she wanted to be a medical doctor, but her parents (my great-grandparents) objected to it. Even now, there are many barriers to female students becoming a doctor. Lately, it was reported that some medical university in Japan gave handicaps to female students when they took entrance exams. Those days there might be a lot of barriers to my grandaunt. She studied in the toilet to hide from her parents, and she broke through all the barriers. Finally, she became a doctor. She was the very first Western female medical doctor in Aichi Prefecture. There were a lot of female doctors in Chinese medical history, so we shouldn’t define her as the first female doctor. Anyway, she had been a general practitioner ever since I can remember.

I always wondered why my mother took me to the hospital where my grandaunt worked. That hospital was a little far away from our home. We needed to take a train to the hospital. It was hard for me because I had a cold. Recently, though, I solved the mystery. My mother was a famous feminist. She respected my grandaunt. My mother paid her a visit as a form of courtesy, and they exchanged information, and she supported the hospital.

 My grandaunt had four children. All of them became medical doctors. I heard my grandaunt planned to run a general hospital with her children. Unfortunately, the children works in different hospitals in different regions now. Just like how my grandaunt didn’t grow up as my great-grandparents wished, her children also didn’t grow up like she wished.

 I just dream too. If my grandaunt’s dreams had come true, then I could also work in a general hospital as a hospital clown.

Picture by akaishi