SYMBIOSIS

Today I'll be talking about SYMBIOSIS, as defined in Wikipedia as a close and often long-term interaction between 2 or more different biological species.    Some symbiotic relationships are obligate, this means that species involved are entirely dependent on each other for survival. Other relationships are facultative, meaning that they can live without the other organism. I have read that in the year 1877, the word symbiosis was used to describe the relationship of people living together in a society. And because of that, I'll be applying this concept on everyday med-school life. The 2 biological interaction like Mutualism, Commensalism and Parasitic  can be clearly depicted on this group of people. I know wanna know more, read on!!!

Ok, let's start with the most common relationship. MUTUALISM. How do we describe mutualism? It is an association of 2 or more species living together and benefits from each other. Plain and simple. An example of this is my relationship with my REAL friends in med-school. We benefit from each other's knowledge, capability and skills. Transcriptions (or notes) we have, we share to each other. We review in groups in case one needs to cope up with a lot of exams. And in skills, we practice different clinical skills on each other (mainly during physical diagnosis exercises) to help with the return demonstration. These are the kind of people you want to be around with because you benefit from them and they also benefit from you. THUMBS UP!!!

Moving on to the next one, COMMENSALISM.  This is a type of relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is not affected. How do we apply this in med school? Easy, it's the professor-student relationship. We students benefit from the lectures and from the knowledge they are sharing. Most of the time, the professors will share their experiences on the journey of being a doctor. And from that, we learn how to react in those situation in case that happens to us in the near future. This relationship is only applicable to the students who listen during the lecture. The students not included in this example are the ones who doesn't attend, sleeping, surfing the net, playing games or loudly chatting with their seatmates DURING CLASS. The ones who are listening sometimes tend to be mad at those who chat loudly creating a buzz that's actually annoying to hear. You just wanna:

The next one is PARASITISM, the worst kind of relationship you'll ever have. Let's define this first, this is a relationship of 2 species in which 1 specie benefits at the expense of the other. I can think of a lot examples for this but one great example is when a person (who is not your friend) notice you have a  transcription in hand, asks what topic is it, borrows it then returns it after a few hours (worse would be days). How does that person become a parasite? They borrow the transcription at the moment you are ready to leave, need extra time to hurry and study or just excited to go home and rest. I MEAN, nagmamadali akong umuwi saka ka pa sisingit at hihiram para magpa xerox ng 10? seryoso? And me being humane, I lend them transcriptions and resist the urge to punch them in the face. So to avoid casualty, I try to stay away from them. It's actually for the good of both of us (kasi kapag ako di nakapagpigil)

And I would like to add another one, this is not usually a symbiotic relationship but I have seen this kind of relationship in med-school. These can be applied to blood-sucking, grade-conscious, crab-mentality infused people. OPPORTUNISM. This can be defined as an person which practice selfish advantage of the circumstances with little or no regard to principle or consequence. These are the people who will take advantage of almost everything. You have a reviewer for the next exams, they'll borrow it. But when time comes that you borrow something from them, they will tell you a lot of excuses. Kapag gusto, may paraan. Kapag ayaw may dahilan. Why do they do this? This is because they want to attain higher than you that's why what they have, they will not share it to others (even to you whom they have been pestering for this and that and those). These are the ones who are not worth keeping and you would not regret deleting them from the story of your life. Don't interact with them because chances are they'll use you in anyway they can. Walk away from these people, (before they get into your skin, before they get comfortable in your company, before they get the most out of you, and before you acquire their mentality and become one of them) that's the best thing you can do. RUN ACTUALLY!!!

This post is purely my opinion and based on my experience. You may or may not relate to this but this is my blog. Comment about what do you think of this, there is no right or wrong. There is just equality.