In this moving op-ed for the Jewish Journal, Dr. Afshine Emrani writes about a patient named Zahra who, through the years, held “a special place” in his heart. They both had something in common – their home country of Iran. Yet there was a potential dividing wedge: Zahra was Muslim and Dr. Emrani was Jewish.
As Dr Emrani writes in the piece, “The beauty of medicine is that it strips us of our superficial labels. The X-ray of a man, a woman, white or Black, gay, straight or divorced, Muslim or Jew — they all look the same. Beneath our skins, under our cloaks, our hearts are identical, and they all break in the same way, vulnerable to the same insults. In these times, when the daily bombardment of news divides us, builds walls between us, medicine reminds me to remain humble, to care for each patient equally.”
