My Cruisy Sabbatical

It's always so hard to restart something that has been stopped for so long. I would love to say that I had a sabbatical and actually came back with some more wisdom or insight or profundity but the truth is much more underwhelming than that.

So recently I took a cruise that didn't really go anywhere, but it was 4 nights and it was pretty cheap per night so I thought it would be a good taste of the cruising experience. I have to say that compared to traveling/backpacking normally, it is a little too slow and the activities were a little boring for my liking but it was pleasant (particularly some of the food). In any case, I couldn't help but observe something interesting on the cruise. That the predominant guests were mostly Australian Caucasian, and mostly of the older, disabled, and obese type. Yet most of the workers on the cruise ship were foreigners mostly of South East Asian descent (Phillipino in particular due to their English ability I presume), whereas the managerial and entertainers were British since the shipping company is British-owned I presume.

Now I thought it was really interesting because it highlighted a chronic issue in society which is white privilege and nothing highlighted this more than seeing an entire cruise ship of white people getting served by non-white people basically. It's interesting to think that despite the abolition of slavery many years ago, in most developed countries, there is a huge gap between the Caucasian population and non-Caucasian population in terms of income, wealth, health, the list goes on. And in particular I think comparing the GDP per capita of countries, it sometimes feels like slavery has taken on a new form in a more subtle way, an economic slavery almost. That effectively, old white men/women can enjoy the luxury of a cruise while many staff from poorer countries get paid very little and effectively serve in a slave-like manner. I mean it's probably a well-known fact such inequality is prevalent, but I guess it never became more clear to me than in my 4 nights as one of few non-Caucasians on that cruise. It was as though this "slavery" that existed on a country/global scale was miniaturised to a 2000 patron cruise-ship and that as a result, I could comprehend slightly more.

Now I'm not going to make any statements regarding the fairness and efficacy of capitalism, or economic policies addressing income/wealth distribution, rather than just raise observations that make me ponder on how I can correct something that feels wrong in my field of study (medicine). Another observation was that while I was a hospital meeting, I noticed that all the senior staff actually lacked any "pure" Caucasian among them which seemed so different to the norm I think in most developed countries. Yet when discussing with a fellow student, he pointed out that most Caucasians at that level possibly aren't here because they have chosen to be in the bigger, more developed hospitals, rather than this lower tier hospital where more international staff probably have to man out of necessity rather than choice.

So at the end of my rant, ultimately my thoughts have left me with a simple question with a complex answer: how will I attempt to solve something which obviously I feel is wrong in my line of work?

Pondering on the issue of egalitarianism again so bye.