In that crowded, dingy, and musty office, ask that sage about the rewards of a life of research. Ask what it means to pursue a big question in science—a real Moby Dick, a great white whale of a challenge like the cause of lupus—and, even with a slim chance of success, go after it, mental hammer and tong, every day for 10, 20, or 30 years. Listen carefully to their words, which I predict will be filled with joy, wonderment, and fulfillment. Let yourself get hooked.
If, as I hope, some of you will go for the gusto and give lab research a whirl, I have to tell you that life will not always be easy and you may have a tightrope existence. You may even look into a career abyss or two as your transgenic mice stop breeding, your cultures get contaminated, your papers are rejected, and your grant applications get triaged and trashed. Nevertheless, you will have a blast, your research may make a difference, and you will never regret for a moment embracing a life devoted to science.
Dear trainees among my dear readers, look deeply into your souls. Find that inner nerd bursting to get free. Let that nerd out. Nurture it carefully. Let it flower and bloom and someday you too can share a delightful evening, drinking and laughing with treasured friends, excited, even exhilarated, by the progress of your field.
Then, as the evening grows late and your friends get tipsy, a gull will swoop past your view, its body shining silver-gold in the glare of a restaurant’s flood lamps, and you will look across the bay and startle at the beauty of the city lights, fireflies in your mind, as they flash and flicker against the black curtain of the rising mountains.
In that precious moment, inhale deeply to savor the fleeting vapors of vintage wine. You will smell some of life’s most fragrant roses.
That moment is not given to everyone. It must be earned.
Do not be afraid. You can do it. You too can become a nerd.
Dr. Pisetsky is physician editor of The Rheumatologist and professor of medicine and immunology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
