Reflection on Personal Passions / Interests

Mohamed Elzarka
September 30, 2014

What?
As a pre-med student, it is often difficult to find time to explore other passions in my life besides
medicine. There is a constant and overbearing pressure to prepare for medical school in a way that will
make me most able to achieve upon matriculation. This ubiquitous weight often precludes me from
following some of the passions that make me more than just a pre-med student. Yet, I have still managed
to find interests in my life which deviate from those of the traditional biology major. One such interest
about which I am very passionate is politics. I am absolutely enamored by politics, political philosophy,
and other contributing studies like economics, public policy, and sociology. Specific interests of mine lie
with the structure of political systems. I will spend countless hours reading atlases of world history or
browsing through Wikipedia articles on the different structures of government that are found throughout
the world. I love to understand more about how different people make sense of their collective
relationship and their relationship with authority through differently tailored governmental systems. I am
also an avid follower of current events, especially of the international sort. I pride myself on staying
abreast of contemporary developments in nations around the globe, and work to develop insight and
understanding for some of the major international events of our time. My interest extends even further
beyond that into looking at the political motivations for the actions of individuals. In my Global Religion
and Politics Honors Seminar, for example, I enjoy examining the political ramifications of religious
differences and the political motivations that are ubiquitous when religious actions are carried out.

So What?
Politics became an interest of mine from a very early age. With a heritage vested in two different nations
that had constantly changing political systems, politics was always extremely important to who I was and
where I came from. As I learned more about my ancestry and the problems facing citizens in both Bosnia
and Egypt due to governmental problems and instability, I grew more interested in the political process. I
began my formal self-education of politics with a series of library books from my local library when I was
about nine years old. These books contained information on every country on earth, with specifics about
the structure of their governments, their current heads of state and chief executives, and the role of history
in their formation. The books captivated me, and cemented my growing interest. I was also encouraged to
take an interest in politics by hearing the discussions of others. As a young child, my parents took me
with them to a lot of dinners with family friends. It was during these get-togethers that I heard the passion
and fire with which others spoke about politics and argued their points to one another. While I often had
trouble understanding the finer details that were being debated, the intensity with which the points were
made drew me in even closer. Thus, as I began my high school career, I joined the Speech and Debate
team in an effort to expose myself to politics and develop a heightened understanding of the political
process. I was involved with International Extemporaneous Speaking, an event in which I had to prepare a
seven minute speech in a thirty minute window on any given topic from recent global events. Competing
as an extemporaneous speaker forced me to stay on top of all recent international developments, and by
doing so, I was able to paint a better picture of the global political realities that I had read about for so
long previously. Going to practice three days a week and dedicating nearly every weekend from
November to February wasnt a burden for me, but rather an exciting time that only grew in the
enjoyment that it produced as the season went on. With a passion grown from infancy and now a real
working knowledge of politics, I had found in politics something truly captivating.

Why?
As I move forward in my life, I feel that I can develop my passion for politics to an even greater degree.
While I may be restricted in the scope of all that I do as I prepare for medical school, I will never lose the
parts of me that are not tied down to medicine. Especially with regard to my interest in politics, I hope to
be able to instead grow these passions, and use them to facilitate my overall development as an individual
and as a medical professional. As I have learned throughout my time as a member of the Speech and
Debate team, having public speaking skills is an essential part of being successful in any professional
environment. Therefore, I will continue to seek out opportunities that will allow me to speak publicly to
others and share my ideas and viewpoints. Furthermore, I realize based on all of my readings just how
central a tenet to the modern human experience being an active part of the political system is. Politics is
the driving force that ties communities together and provides order in a chaotic world. I have previously
worked as a Fellow on President Obamas 2012 campaign for reelection, and in my position coordinating
campaign events and interacting with voters, I found out just how much politics means to individuals. In
my belief, understanding a patient as a person rather than simply a set of physical problems is paramount
to improving overall care. In that vein, understanding politics and the related driving forces behind many
of the decisions that people make seems like a wonderful thing to be able to understand going forward as
I look to provide the best comprehensive care to my future patients. Therefore, when the 2016 election
rolls around, I will definitely be looking to involve myself with another campaign. In the meantime, I aim
to continue my independent studies and readings on political and current world affairs, and to never forget
that no matter how much hard science I learn, I will always need to understand people. Perhaps even more
importantly, I must always keep with me the parts of myself that make me more than just a pre-medical
student, those parts of me that make me the inquisitive, multi-interested person that I am.