Obligations

We begin life with few obligations.
We pledge alliance to the flag,
We swear to return our library books.
But as we get older,
We take vows;
We make promises;
We get burdened by commitments;
To do no harm,
To tell the truth and nothing but,
To love and cherish till death do us part,
So we just keep running up a tab;
Until we owe everything to everybody,
And suddenly think,
"What the?!"

The thing about being a surgeon;
Everybody wants a piece of you.
We take one little loaf,
And suddenly,
We're drowning in obligations,
To our patients, to our colleagues, to medicine itself.
So we do what any sane person will do,
We run like hell from our promises.
Hoping that they will be forgotten.
But sooner or later,
They'll always catch up.
And sometimes,
You find the obligation you dread the most,
Isn't worth running from at all.

- Meredith 's Voice Over
in Grey's Anatomy Season 6 Episode 4