I quote a man who has been accepted by the general population to be accurate in his observations of society: “Every civilization is, among other things, a system for taming the passions and regulating them do useful work,” Aldous Huxley famously said. I don't know the purpose of life, but I know the passion, and mine lies in medicine. I moved from New York to a poor village in India during my pre-teen years. There, my life saw a juxtaposition like no other. From the colorful, air-conditioned pediatric wards where the nurse would tell you “I was brave!” stickers (despite you throwing a fit) and lollipops, I have seen children scream in agony while crude and outdated procedures such as lobotomy were used to treat relatively simple problems. Regardless of how clichéd the reaction of Asian American and American returnees has become, such images impact a child's life like no other and have made me who I am today. As I reflected with the capacity of my young mind about the differences in these two worlds, I felt a certain power move through my body as I realized the power ...