The Study of Human Nature

Back in 1980, Eric and I were in an Organic Chemistry class taught by a truly impressive professor, Dr. Harry P Schultz. Dr. Schultz, who, with his crew cut and crisp manner, came across like a NASA chief engineer, was a national authority on carbon and all its properties. He'd bound to the lecture podium, and begin each class (taught at 8am) with a booming "Good morning wonderful fellow students!"

Near the end of the second semester (Eric got As, and he's a cardiologist; I got Cs, and I'm now a lawyer), one of the braver undergrads raised his hand, and asked, politely, if maybe Dr. Schultz wasn't being condescending to us with his daily greeting, since he was a renowned expert in organic chemistry, and we were mere first year students. Schultz's reply, which I remember as if he uttered it yesterday: "My delightful good man! We are ALL students in the study of human nature!"

And so we are...

Yesterday after watching the Canes get beaten like a red headed stepchild at Eric's palatial Boca hacienda, I drove Dr. Barry (also a Schultz protege, one year later) back to his house to watch MORE college football and eat take out Chinese. Barry and I sat on his sofa, and traded tales of each of our jobs' characters. These folks ARE characters, in the Dickensian sense.

As we shared the stories of bizarre human behavior, Barry said, simply, "So much of this is really funny." Hence, the theme of this entire blog!!!!!

Just last week Barry spent time with religious zealots rallying around a corpse, angry staff thinking he plays favorites (he doesn't); a brilliant Asian clinician who can keep a child with a horribly diseased heart alive but speaks like a newly arrived clerk in a Cantonese take out place, and a smart colleague whose ego (and underlying insecurities) are in inverse proportion to her diminutive stature.

While we were at Eric's, he regaled us with anecdotes about guilty children of dying elderly parents, inept hospital administrators with nasty streaks, and hugely egotistical practitioners (just like Barry's colleagues).

I added a dash of conniving, money hungry clients, platitude spouting lawyers who seem to be almost orgasmic when they hear their own voices, and those who think their quest for life's meaning is anything other than silly navel contemplation.

In other words --funny crap! In better words --the study of human nature!