Mid life career change!

This plaque erected in memory of Dr. Roberts at the hospital in Shillong made me pause and dwell on the issue of mid life career change.

Dr. Roberts was a minister of the Presbyterian church and was known to have been a well accomplished  preacher, teacher and counsellor in the congregations he ministered. But his passion was in bringing health, healing and wholeness to his congregation, for which he thought that training in medicine would be a good avenue. That was how he got trained. During the medical training he felt a call to be a missionary doctor. This led him to come to Shillong in 1922, spending 21 years to start and steer the K.J.Hospital to be a referral hospital in later years. 

Dr. David Tarang, who is the current director of the hospital once tad me, that, ‘Dr. Roberts left  behind a good tradition of a ministering physician, which continues to influence the way we welcome patients and care for them’. 

It is more common now to make mid life changes in career and vocation! Life is in evolution! Life is a continuum! Sometimes changes in perception, however radical, would lead us to make departures from an earlier chosen career path. Some other times, it may be a need that would persuade us to consider retraining!

Life offers us many opportunities. We need to choose and change the course in our lives when the call to do so comes to us!   

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)