13.February 🍻🎓

Latin: Plaudite amici, comedia finita est.

English: Applaud, my friends. The comedy is over.

— الكلمات الأخيرة للإمبراطور أوغسطس Augustus.

Happy Valentine

إنّ الشّبيبةَ نارٌ إنْ أرَدتَ بها
أمرًا فبادِرهُ إنّ الدّهرَ مُطفِئُها

— أبو العلاء المعري

عجِبتُ لِمَن لَهُ قَدٌّ وَحَدٌّ
وَيَنبو نَبوَةَ القَضِمِ الكَهامِ

وَمَن يَجِدُ الطَريقَ إِلى المَعالي
فَلا يَذَرُ المَطِيَّ بِلا سَنامِ

وَلَم أَرَ في عُيوبِ الناسِ شَيئًا
كَنَقصِ القادِرينَ عَلى التَمامِ

— أبو الطيب المتنبي

الناسُ في غَفَلاتِهِم
وَرَحى المَنِيَّةِ تَطحَنُ

— أبو العتاهية

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

— Thomas Jefferson

باختصار: لا تحجي زايد.
عبّر عن أكبر قدر من المعاني بأقل عدد من الكلمات.

My ambition is to say in ten sentences what other people say in a book – what other people do not say in a book.

— Twilight Of The Idols

الكلمةُ إذا خَرَجَت من القلب وَقَعَت في القلب، وإذا خرجت من اللسان لَمْ تُجاوِز الآذان

— البيان والتبيين لـ أبي عثمانٍ الجاحِظ

كانَتِ القبيلةُ مِن العربِ إذا نَبَغَ فيها شاعِرٌ أتَتِ القبائلُ فهنّأتها

— العُمدَة لـ ابن رشيق

Bot:
وَقَالَ الْحَسَنُ: «لَا يَنْتَفِعُ بِالْمَوْعِظَةِ مَنْ تَمُرُّ عَلَى أُذُنَيْهِ صَفْحًا كَمَا أَنَّ الْمَطَرَ إِذَا وَقَعَ فِي أَرْضٍ سَبِخَةٍ لَمْ تُنْبِتْ»

إنّما قَلبُ الحَدَث* كالأرضِ الخَالِية: ما أُلقِيَ فيها مِن شَيءٍ قَبِلَته.

*الحَدَث: الشاب، صَغيرُ السن

On the complexity of the body

We imagine the human body to be made of separate parts and discrete systems. But this is only for the sake of simplicity, since every organ is connected to every other organ. The human body functions as a whole and malfunctions as a whole.
This is what makes medicine and biology notoriously difficult and filled with mysteries and ambiguities, because the physician (who's a biologist at core) has to keep in mind the myriad connections that bind each body part to others, and trace the problem (the symptoms) to the original source of it (the malfunctioning organ).

The thyroid is a notorious example: it's a small gland in the neck, yet it controls the metabolism of the entire body, which is why when it becomes overactive (hyperthyroidism) it leads to widespread problems; palpitations, heat intolerance, diarrhea, weight loss, and anxiety. The patient presents with one of these problems, and it's the physician's task (and challenge) to trace the problem to the roots, which are often entangled and entertwined beyond recognition.

Another example is shortness of breath. A patient with shortness of breath could potentially have a problem in his lungs; asthma, infection, air outside the lungs, ...etc. Or a thyroid tumor pressing on his windpipe. He could also be suffering from heart, kidney, or liver failure causing fluid to accumulate there. Or he could be suffering from a blood problem like anemia.

Pre-eclampsia is another example as it can present with headache, abdominal pain, protein in the urine, seizure (thence it becomes eclampsia), or the mother may be unaffected yet the fetus is deteriorating. And chronic kidney disease hits the bones, immunity, sexual function, and the heart together.

So it is the case that in many diseases, virtually every system can be involved and every organ can be the cause. This is what makes medicine so complex and error so possible. And this is why a major part of studying medicine involves distinguishing between very different diseases presenting with very similar complaints.

.