The least of these

Two opportunities to be kind to strangers have fallen into my lap in the past two days. These opportunities were opportune in the sense that the service at Trinity on Sunday included scripture and preaching on one of my favorite Bible passages in Matthew 25:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me... I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

Whenever I hear this passage, I often wonder to myself if I'm missing the boat. Are there people sitting under my nose with blatantly obvious needs that I have the means to meet? Sometimes I think I am too engrossed in my own selfish indulgence to even take note of the needs of people around me. But the Lord made it very clear and very obvious how I could show two individuals kindness.

As I was leaving the clinic yesterday, one of the patients (who had been done with her appointment and sitting in the waiting room for upwards of an hour) was on the corner waiting for the Paratransit (the on-call public transportation) to pick her up. It was the end of the day, and I got in my car to drive home. I had the window down as I was pulling out of the parking lot, and this patient hollered at me asking for a ride. She had been waiting for her ride for two and a half hours and her destination was on my way home. My sacrifice to lighten her burden was minimal, but I'm glad she hollered at me because I probably would not have stuck my nose out to help her otherwise. Perhaps in the future I will.

And today, I was helping translate for families at a Back-to-School Health Fair sponsored in part by Trinity. Translation duties were minimal, but I wanted to be available if the need arose so I pulled out a bracelet-in-progress from my pocket and safety-pinned it to my pant leg. I finished by the time things in the make-shift clinic were wrapping up, and I was adding finishing touches as a little boy approached me, very curious about what I was doing. He asked me what it was and how I was making it. He thought it was pretty cool, and I asked him if he wanted it. His immediate answer was yes. I got it all finished, tied it on his wrist and he ran off.

Kids have really grown on me this summer. They seem less intimidating than they did last summer. I think, simply by exposure to lots of kids in the clinics, I have observed them enough to feel more at ease communicating and relating to them. It's neat.

One last matter on my mind today is that of choosing public health programs. I have a list of schools that I plan on applying to this fall. That's all well and good, but beyond simply choosing a school, one must elect a department and a degree program as well. At two schools, I am torn between epidemiology and environmental health. Epidemiology offers skills that are valuable across all sub-fields in public health, but some of the courses in the environmental programs sound so fascinating... right up my alley. Then there's a school like Tulane, which has more departments that tickle my fancy than not: epidemiology, environmental science, international health and development, or tropical medicine (read: parasitology!). How do I begin to distinguish such programs? Do I make the decision based on how valuable and marketable the skills garnered in a given program will be? (In that case, epidemiology) Or based on how interesting the classes sound? (In this case, international health and development or tropical medicine) I don't want to arrive at the end of my two years and wish I had taken different classes. Or do I base my decision on which faculty interests interest me most? (In that case, tropical medicine) There are lots of factors to consider and they all seem to measure on different scales. I'm not really sure how to go about it. Can't I just do everything and be in school indefinitely and not accumulate any debt? Yeah, right.