Remember when you were a third year medical student? Me neither. But that's when you first started to build that tough & isolating carapace to protect you from all the overwhelming emotions flying through the hospital, & you, this essay suggests. A seasoned clinical educator and a third-year med student have a conversation about our shared indoctrination that's evocative, eloquent, and touching (the conversation, not the indoctrination). NEJM 2011;364:1190-1193 FREE FULL TEXT