If theyâre smart enough to be doctors, theyâre smart enough to learn to say your name correctly.
I donât have a common typical English name. My name is unique to my culture. Itâs always been difficult always being different, an outsider. Especially growing up in the US south. But thatâs a different story.
There are two schools of thought on my name: âoh cool so exactly as itâs spelledâ and âwhat in the actual fuck I donât even know where to start.â The latter are always the loudest and most obnoxious.
First days of school were the worst growing up. I would usually keep track of where in the alphabet the teacher was on roll call and knew she was looking at my name when there was a long pause. I would fake a laugh, raise my hand, and tell them my name. Everyone else would laugh along. I hated it, I was so embarrassed. Why couldnât I have been named Ashley or Catherine or Megan? Life would have been so much easier.
I grew up to embrace my name and love it. I love my culture, our history is awesome, and my name is badass. Iâve only met one other person with my name and sheâs ten years younger than I am and lives in Canada. But my acceptance doesnât mean everyone else has had the same epiphany about my name. I still get the same looks, well-intentioned but rude comments, and confused stares from all the Carolineâs, Katelynâs, and Laurenâs.
Some days I own it with a bad ass âno itâs not hard, youâre being dramatic, itâs easy to say and really coolâ attitude. Sometimes I have rhyming tricks that I personally HATE but understand itâs a necessary evil because some people have tiny minds and need the extra help. And then I throw in a little history lesson because damn, some people.
But some days Iâm exhausted, and I canât argue and stand up for myself. Some days Iâm tired and defeated and I let it go, âI know, itâs hard, a lot of people have trouble. Itâs okay.â
My resident caught me on one of those nights. I was on hour 14 of the work day, scrubbing in for yet another surgery. She didnât keep asking my name because she couldnât pronounce it, but because she genuinely couldnât remember what it was because she was having a very similar kind of day.
No one has ever said anything like that to me before. I was too tired at the time to understand and appreciate what she said, but itâs been resonating with me ever since. Sheâs fucking right. If youâre comfortable speaking in medical jargon with our made-up sounding words, you can say my name. Itâs not hard, itâs not my fault you canât say it, and no, you canât make up a nickname for me. âđź
(via heyitsthatalmostdoctor)
