☜ Sunset Viewed from my Clinic.
Last week, I was preparing for a student lab class at our university.
We use a frog’s heart to study how it reacts to drugs related to the autonomic nervous system.
Early in the morning, I was busy dissecting the frog and was completely in “operation mode.”
Then suddenly, an oral surgeon brought a French exchange student.
“Can we watch the practice?”
“OK! OK! Welcome!” I said.
I really wanted to explain everything to them.
But then I panicked.
“How do I say ‘sympathetic nerve’ in English?”
I could say “artery” and “vein.”
But these words completely disappeared from my head:
• autonomic nervous system
• parasympathetic nerve
• aorta
Blank.
So I turned to the younger oral surgeon and said,
“Please translate for me!”
But then I stopped myself.
“No. This is my territory.”
So I started speaking simple English.
“I’m just a dentist from a small clinic in Tokyo.”
“I usually treat many patients in my clinic every day.”
“Today, I came early to prepare this experiment for our students.”
That was it.
Maybe this is not what a 61-year-old dentist is supposed to sound like.
But I realized something.
Even at 61, I still need to keep fighting.
English.
Knowledge.
Physical strength.
Because once you stop fighting, you grow old surprisingly fast.
I may be just a dentist from a small clinic in Tokyo.
But in my own way,
I am still a samurai. ⚔️🐸