Undergraduate / His kidneys are failing, his blood pressure is dropping. - HouseMD Personal Statement [3]

Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

"His kidneys are failing, his blood pressure is dropping." The patient started vomiting as he fell down the stairs. "I need a crash cart in here!" cried out a middle-aged man while a crowd of nurses rushed to get the task done.

Fortunately it was nothing serious but an ordinary episode of House M.D that I watched on a peaceful winter night under a hot blanket. Holding a cup of mouth-watering coffee, I absorb the aroma of my favorite Arabica beans. Blood flows through my veins delivering the necessary caffeine to invigorate my stream of consciousness. It forces me to ponder over House MD which has been the only TV show that I have always really enjoyed watching, without missing any episodes. I admire how the producers expertly created the main character Gregory House, a cynical, narcissistic, miserable, medical genius who always faces a dilemma of whether to follow science or ethics.

In every episode it turns out that he can either obey the rules and become a 'legal' doctor who follows standard procedures, or he can break the rules, risk his job, and maybe be sent to jail in order to save the patient's life. What has influenced me the most is not the fact that he chooses ethics or science but that he gets to find his real character through the process. Having been rejected by society on account of his non-conformist personality, House has dedicated his life to diagnosing patients. Therefore he defines himself from scratch after skeptically questioning everything he experiences in the process.

I am neither a loner nor a rebel, and I was raised in a conservative town where people are alienated because of their opinions. My family was little different from the rest of the society. They were the true supporters of freedom in thinking therefore never imposed any limitations on me. When I was 10, they decided to send me to a religious school because it had the best rankings in town. The school was run by a radical Islamist cult which had aim to convince other people to believe in its opinions.

During school time, I was exposed to many brainwashing sessions and forced to believe their unscientific teachings. Being a deterministic person, I was irritated by the notions that were not based on logical arguments. After my doubtful questions about cult's untouchable principles, my friends and teachers started to exclude me. They oppressed my desire for discovering new ideas. Therefore I became desolate and started to lose my skeptical character. But hopefully that didn't last long.

Greg House had recovered and ameliorated my personality. Watching House ignore the rules of medicine in order to achieve his utmost goal, saving the patient's life, has helped me to achieve mine: exploring and creating new ideas without being influenced by the tribe. House's non-conformist personality has encouraged me to stand up for what I truly believe in at any cost. Now I feel that my perspective of life still carries the traces of House's philosophy.