-Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism

So the question you all may be asking is then “Jonathan, what is the result of what you have thought for the past six weeks?” My reply: I hope that I got a good grade in Organic Chemistry I.

In the words of Fran, a very happy and endearing member of the Loyola Dining Staff, “It’s OVER!” After six grueling weeks, I have completed the first of two sessions of organic chemistry that are prerequisites for medical school. This weekend was the first weekend of the entire summer where I was able to truly relax. I did not have to study for anything. I did not have to work. I spent this entire weekend thinking about what I have thought and how it made me the person I am today.   

Organic Chemistry is a a science lecture where we learn about carbon-based compounds and their interactions with the rest of the environment. Since May 19th, my brain has been flooded with the determination of which alkene is cis or trans, the question as to what compounds follow the Markovnikov Theory, and the formulations of over fifty mechanisms. During that time, while I was blogging, I kept asking myself, “Why am I doing this? It is the summer. I should be relishing in the fact that the period of May to August is okay for me to do no studying whatsoever.”

I told you all in my biography that I have always been one to challenge myself. Life is like a board game. In order to get to the finish line, every player must go through a series of obstacles, problems, and difficult tasks. If one makes the wrong mistake, then they are one step less, one move shorter to winning the game. When my Dad, a physician, visited me at Loyola for Parent Weekend last year, I fully affirmed my intent to become a doctor. As we were watching a Cubs game, I started complaining that I had a General Chemistry test in two days. My father’s response was not what I expected. Instead of consoling me, he said, “It’s only going to get more difficult.” He then said, “The road to becoming a doctor is one of delayed self-gratification.” He kept going on and telling me that while others will go off and get their first job, the medical student will still be burying his head in a textbook. The journey that any medical student will walk will be an arduous one. But then he replied, “However JP, when you complete medical school, you will feel so awesome and so great, that it did not even matter that you worked so hard because you finally did it.” The Cubs then slaughtered the Pittsburgh Pirates that day.

In short, I guess completing the first session of Orgo was a necessary sigh of relief for me. It was my mini version of the “delayed self-gratification” that my father alluded to. Right now, I am motivated as ever to keep learning. If I can endure a 6 week course that was meant to be taken in an entire semester, then “bring it on” for the next session. This Monday, June 30, only two days after I took the final for the first session, I take the second one. It may be another 6 week of demanding material, but the end is completely worth it.

The idea of Organic Chemistry compels students to look into the molecular level of things and how they function. It allows future scientists to see how certain bonds create certain compounds that can help or benefit humans and their surroundings. This abstract idea fully reflects to people as well. In college, every person is learning to make themselves into a man or woman of higher thought. At Loyola, not only do my classmates here understand that they are in an academic setting where they mold themselves to become smarter, but also to learn character that could finally make them able to be of service to others. It is interesting to know how a science course can help students use the skills they have gained and use them in everyday life. I believe it’s all part of a greater plan. In the end, I think anything we learn at Loyola can be used in an academic or social field that is brought upon to us once we leave the doors of our campus.

Thus, if one would ask me if all that I am is the result of what I have thought so far? I would say ask me again in May 2011, and I will probably have a definite answer.