Year 1 Medical Student (2026)
Rushing through the corridors trying to get to the lab on time, this practical session seemed nothing more different than our usual ones: the same queue of masked figures donning white coats, fumbling for pens in pockets, scrambling to register our attendance, everything seemed to be in the ordinary order: the usual excitement, the clean floor, the bright lighting. And then, my eyes laid upon the crumpled bag lying on the spotless stainless steel.
Air, as it seems, has been sucked out of me, and my heart dropped with, not trepidation, but fearful caution. The frivolous giddiness of discerning new numbers of scene was subdued by a swelling solemnity. Something, at the back of my mind, told me this was going to be unprecedented, exploring the consecrated sanctity of the human body is no simple business, at that moment, our identities transcend beyond medical students, we became intimate confidants of the cadaver in front of us, though lifeless, it was full of life, unveiling the secrets and amazement nature has bestowed upon mankind. Mute as they were, their existence spoke volumes of depths we have yet to comprehend. We may never have the opportunity to be acquainted with the souls which once resided in the non-processed flesh; yet when the print of our textbooks fades into obscurity and past emotions become distant memories, our teachers have refused to simply decay to nothingness nor descend into oblivion; their self may have only existed in time all so briefly in the intersections of time and space, but their selfless conviction rendered them a longevity we have had the privilege of glimpsing into.
