Objective in Life?

A fellow blogger -Ahmed- asked me the toughest question anyone could ask me at this time..

"What is your main objective in life?"
That is too broad a question, and before I can answer you, I must first answer myself!

I owe it to 4 corners of my life,
Myself
My family
My friends
My career

My main objective in life would be to keep it a fair square, not lean to one corner more than the others and lose the balance..
Currently, the balance is tipped over to my career, that's quite understandable now that I am at a crucial spot, where I must decide what I wanna do for a living.

Being a woman makes it much more difficult.. For instance, when a man decides he wants to do surgery, nobody questions him! but should a woman -godforbid- decides she wants to be a surgeon, everybody around her would start questioning her sanity!

I remember the first line of advice I got from someone in my family:
"You should go into pediatrics."
That's it, period.
I spend 7 years in med school, so that I come this day and listen to you, and do pediatrics.
I reponded that I don't like pediatrics, it's in fact my least favorite subject!
He then says:
"then you should do gynecology!"
That's it, you solved my problem, thank you very much.

You see, the image of a Saudi female doctor is set to be either a pediatrician, a gynecologist, or at the most an internist. Very few make it to surgery unfortunately.

When I decided I wanted to do surgery, the question I was asked the most was:
"So you don't wanna get married?"
but then I did, and the question changed to:
"Oh, so you don't wanna have children?"


I admit that doing surgery is a commitment, I am aware of that.. But then going into med school was the beginning of that commitment.. I don't struggle through 7 years of torture to come at this final point and just quit my ambition for a bunch of dementic people who think a woman should only serve women and children!
I'm not saying that I'm seeking to be equal to men, don't get me wrong! Women that want to be equal to men lack ambition!

I know a couple of colleagues that decided to do laboratory medicine, or an easy non-demanding specialty like anesthesia or dermatology. It's good that a person knows his limits and doesn't run after false dreams. If that is the only way for them to keep their "fair square balance", then I applaude them for their decisions. But it is nobody's right to tell anybody what they CAN'T DO, and what they SHOULD DO instead.

I am an artist, I love sculpture, I have an eye for symmetry and beauty.. I'm an inpatient detail oriented perfectionist. Now what self-respecting creature would throw their skills and talents out the window just because someone else "thinks" they're better off that way?