The Creative Spark

Creativity — the process of having original ideas that have value

Sir Keith Robinson

Recently I sat down with my wife to watch yet another fascinating talk on TED. Afterward, we tried to remember an anecdote about a little girl drawing a picture of God from an old TED talk by Sir Keith Robinson. Inevitably, we had to re-watch it — and what a great idea that was!

Education is obviously at core of what we’re about here at LITFL. When I think back to all the incredibly talented people I know from medical school, I can’t help think that what we’ve been through may have poured more than a few drops of water on our collective sparks of creativity. Most of us are probably still a bit damp.

Obviously, to get into medical school in the first place you have to be among the education system’s “winners”. But we may have lost something along the way. Does our entire system of education kill creativity? This is what Sir Keith Robinson, one of the world’s most entertaining speakers, asks in his brilliant, hilarious talk.

Oh, you haven’t seen it? Perhaps you’ve just got back from the UCEM World Tour’s visit to Ulaanbataar? In which case you’re forgiven — but you must make amends by watching the video now:

You might argue that retaining creativity is not nearly as important for a physician or scientist as it is for an artist or muscian.

You’d be wrong.

As physicians we encounter a misty maze of countless new situations and new problems every day. The spark of creativity can help us by lighting the way forward. All the more impressive, are the physicians who have not only retained the spark, but have fanned it into a glowing flame, despite the ever-present restraints of physical reality and suffocating bureaucracy. Such people show us all the way forward.

Lets keep on fanning the flames.