The Eleventh Commandment (Rating: R-G)

Dear Diary,

I am sorry… but this entry is rated “R-G” which basically stands for “Restricted (Graduates Only)”. So if you are an aspiring pharmacy UNDERGRADUATE, be warned to stop reading and turn away if you don’t want your ideals to shatter before your very eyes. Welcome to the entry known as “The Eleventh Commandment”.

It is quite funny that earlier on… I was chatting with this pharmacy senior… I suddenly told her that if I had kids, I would add the eleventh commandment to the ten that God gave to Moses in biblical times. “Thou Shalt Not be a pharmacist”, reads the eleventh commandment, haha… making it hilarious enough to be part of some Dilbert comic strip or The Simpsons cartoon. Frankly, many of us are burnt out and whining has always been a favourite pastime for pharmacists. =) Talking to her feels like confessing every fortnightly in a confession box…. Pretty soothing I must say… And she told me that is because I never really speak to her face-to-face. Oh well…

That pharmacy senior was telling me how disillusioned that student (who was in the same pharmacy as her today) was. Oh man… and she was asking me to draw some comic strip on life as a pharmacist to create awareness since we now cannot depend on our minister of Health. She volunteered to be my comic strip publicity manager. I was laughing away until she said, “SERIOUSLY.” Huh? Sure or not? She even proposed that the comic be placed at some blog and later publicised to some IPSF, then to NUSPS and then PSS???? Maybe she was dreaming… but then again, seems quite cool to have a comic strip in Straits Times dedicated to the pharmacist profession, yeah? Haha… Philbert? Since “Pharmacy” starts with “P”. =)

I may just try to draw a little comic strip tomorrow if I have the time and then send it to her, haha… =P Got an assignment to draw up a proposal to get approval for our trainings to be accredited by the professional body. We failed once but now that I am the one doing up the proposal and I am confident we will be granted the accreditation. =)

Anyway if you remembered some entries ago, I spoke about rushing off from my pharmacy to save an elderly man who fell down the steps in the food court? Okay, a lady came to my pharmacy this afternoon and asked how was the old man. I was… like… huh? What old man? I then realised that she was that lady who ran into my pharmacy to ask me for help that fateful day.

She was all smiling and asked me for some medical advice. I noticed that she spoke with a slang… possibly an Aussie slang. Oh man… so the only person who even bothered to do something for that elderly man was probably a person who studied in a Western country! I still remembered vividly that day when I rushed to the scene and all the rest of the people were just folding their arms and watching as if it were a television drama. Only that girl told everyone to back off as I attended to him. So that “Good Samaritan” is not even a “true blue” local but someone who possibly resided or was educated in a Caucasian country!

Singaporeans really must learn to help people in need…. and not just write down car-plate numbers when they see a road traffic accident so that they can buy the “lucky” lottery number??? What a sadistic, apathetic and individualistic society here! Superstitious too! We got to learn to be a gracious society.

God Bless,

Andrew