Goodbye, ER
I finally got a chance to catch up on the Series Finale of NBC’s ER, which I TIVOed last week. Back in 1996, I used to watch the show religiously with my mother every Thursday night. At the time, I had dreams of becoming a doctor one day and was very interested in medicine. But after one too many episodes of ER, I quickly realized that medicine wasn’t in my future.
The first indication was how uncomfortable I was with the sight of blood. While not everybody in the medical profession become surgeons or ER doctors, I quickly started to question my career dreams. But what ultimately convinced to turn away from medicine and turn towards engineering me was the uncertainty of medicine. I knew that I would not be able to accept the fact that certain medicines and treatments work on certain people and have no effect on others. What I most enjoy about engineering was how deterministic it is. 5 volts in here will give you 3 volts here… without exception.
I stopped watching ER when I left for college, but I have always been impressed with the pace, depth, and emotions ER gave viewers every Thursday night. The pace of the show has seldom been matched (maybe The West Wing). The characters were all flawed but all very well intentioned. But the part that I loved the most: everybody in the ER was terrified with the awesome responsibility of being a doctor. Every character was frequently put into situations that stretched and terrified them… but they always showed real courage. ER showed me that courage really wasn’t the absence of fear, but the ability to overcome it. It’s an idea that I always heard from others… but saw it the very first time I watched ER.
Yes, it is a more intense show comparing to taxi and others at that time.