Childhood dreams: Why a doctor?

The community where I grew up was served by an American who was a medical doctor and a pilot. Dr. William C. Richli was in and out of MVC during my pre-school and primary school years. He had a yellow piper cub airplane (if I remember it right) that could seat 2 people and I was told back then that he had frequent crashes, but still managed to salvage and rebuild the plane and of course his body as well.

He spoke with a deep drawl and sometimes I found it difficult to understand him. He dressed like he needed some ironing and tidying up with an occasional greasy spot on the elbow or chin and a mismatched button to buttonhole, and I was more attracted to him as a pilot than as a doctor. At that age I was dreaming of having my own wings and soaring across the sky. I wanted to be a pilot and frequently bugged my mom about my plans of being one. She was adamant about my following in the footsteps of her brother who was a pilot for Menzi corporation, but died in a crash, and she insisted that I would make a good doctor instead. I don’t know if she had anything to do with Dr. Richli trying to persuade me to be a doctor, but what I could remember is Dr. Richli passing by our house in a few instances and instructing me to get dressed so I could accompany him to the clinic.

When we got into the clinic he would place me on a high chair right in front of him and he would start his surgery on the many native patients who trekked to the campus when he was around. Goiter and breast surgeries were the ones that I could remember and seeing the sharp knife cut into the skin looked pretty cool for me at that age.

I don’t know what my parents and their colleagues were into in those days, but it turned out many years later that almost every family in that community produced at least one doctor. Was it a status symbol or prestige or maybe some sort of competition among their ranks? Or again was it Dr. Richli's influence in our lives?

With our parents’ guidance and our exposure to the medical profession at an early age, it is not a surprise that I and my sister eventually turned out to be medical doctors.