Just a personal observation . . . 

A couple weeks ago I shared a thought with a friend about how I have never seen a black medical doctor.  I don’t mean being treated by a black doctor, I mean I have never seen a black doctor with my own two eyes.  WifeGeeding also expressed she has never seen a black doctor with her own one eye.  Hollywood has plenty of examples, but unfortunately I haven’t seen one.  I always thought this was a sad thing, that many blacks are unable to pursue such a career because of financial setbacks, lack of role models in this field, and whatnot.  I will say I have seen plenty of white doctors and my fair share of Asian and Middle Eastern docs.

Well, today I had to take my mother to a cardiologist, who happened to be a black female.  This reminded me of what one of my high school coaches had to say about female doctors.  He said he would always prefer a female doctor because a lot of times they are put through tougher ‘tests’ in medical school and most of them work extra hard to prove themselves – so he always thought he was getting a smarter and tougher doctor.  I have to say his logic makes some sense.

I hope what I’m saying doesn’t sound weird or insensitive, but I’m trying to be sincere.  Kids often look up to adults as role models in all sorts of fields.  When I was a kid, girls didn’t have any professional female athlete’s to look up to other than tennis players and gymnists; but, now girls can look up to professional female athletes such as Mia Hamm, Sue Bird, and Jennie Finch. 

In today’s world I think it would be hard for a young black girl to find a black female doctor to admire because there are not that many around.  I also think it would be hard for a young black male to aspire to become a U.S. Senator, as there have only been three that have been popularly elected in the history of the United States.  All this bascially to say . . . here’s hoping for more diversity, opportunity, and hope in our world.