金毛

You may think I am quite outspoken and do not hide my opinion.

Alas, I have the same impression - until I went to the campus and taught our first year medical students recently.

Don't be too excited. Nothing actually happened. Yes, the class was getting more noisy every year, but I have passed the age of trying to quiet them down.

The event went like this: After a short lecture, the students were splitted into groups; a few of us did with them a so-called small group tutorial.

When I entered the room, a boy sitting in the front row caught my eyes.

His hair was dyed to the colour of glistering gold - a style that we only expect to find in members of some underground society.

I had thought of no fewer than two versions to talk to him.

1. Malicious: "You would never be able to pass any clinical examination with golden hair."
2. Benign: "This kind of appearance would do you no good; no patient would like to talk to - not to say be examined by - a medical student who appears as a gangster !"

Well, that's my thinking, but I kept my mouth shut throughout that hour - I had a low mood and for a while I thought I could change nothing.

After the class, I met this very student in the corridor, and we exchanged a polite nod.

Maybe he is merely naive - or am I really getting old ?