EVOLUTION OF A SURGEON

· "You're going to be very successful. And someday you are going to a faraway place, a place where people speak a different language," the eccentric old woman told me. "It's called America."

· I saw our once-robust neighbor slowly succumb to illness because he was too poor to seek medical help. I was just a kid, but I wanted to become a doctor to help people like him.

· "The only way you can go to medical school is through full-scholarship. I HAVE NO MONEY!" my father's words challenged me.

· Decades later and after performing thousands of successful surgeries, I am still reminded of that particular moment that fateful day when I first experienced the loss of a patient. As a paralyzing pain and fear of failure overcame my being, I felt a light touch on my shoulder. I turned and saw my senior attending physician, Dr. Hadder. Understanding and kindness shone from his eyes.

"Don't beat yourself up, Robbie," he said. "We do our best. But we are not God. We can't save everybody."

· When I set out to write this book, I wanted it to be an inspiration to the reader, to share my thoughts on what is essential in life. My journey to become the surgeon that I have always wanted to be is nothing compared to my conversion and renewal of faith: it is as insignificant as a grain of sand in the vastness of the ocean.