Category Archives: education

Etymology of My First Name

Keys to Heaven

My first name is Peter. My parents named me after the lead apostle of Jesus.

The biblical Peter’s birth name was Simon. There is a story in the Gospel of Matthew about the time when Jesus said to Simon, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Peter was also given “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” in Matthew. By one tradition, there are 2 keys, one gold (power to bind and loose in heaven) and another silver (power to bind and loose on earth)

According to Wikapedia, Peter comes directly from the Greek petra, which means rock or stone. In Aramaic (the language spoken by Jesus) the word is Kefa or Cephas which also translates as stone or rock.

In old England the Normans used the Old French form of Peter, which was Piers. It is still used today, e.g., Piers Morgan. [Information from http://www.behindthename.com]

Peter the apostle has been considered to be the lead apostle. Two letters in the bible are attributed to him. There is a legend that Peter was crucified as a martyr. The legend states that he insisted on being crucified upside down because he said he was not worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus.

Peter M. Hartmann, MD

Favorite Subject in School

What was your favorite subject in school?

College Student in Class

What was my favorite subject in school? I was a biology major in college, and genetics was my favorite subject.

Why? One main reason was my teacher. He was a genetics expert who trained under a pioneer in the field. My professor made difficult topics easy to understand (relatively speaking). He was interesting and engaging.

Another reason I enjoyed genetics was because it addressed important issues such as evolution, mental and physical illness, family structure, anthropology, and more.

One fun idea we were told was that the purpose of the whole organism was to reproduce DNA. Notice that DNA is the reason for reproduction, not the whole organism. That exists as a container for the DNA.

Of course, reproduction is a defining feature of living things (not just for DNA). If a species does not reproduce, it becomes extinct.

The idea that the primary purpose of any organism, such as a human being, is just to reproduce DNA is not to be taken literally. It is just a fun way to express its importance to a species.

After college I went to medical school. I had to take the Medical College Aptitude Test. It seemed to me that a significant number of questions involved genetics. I thought I did well on them because I had a great teacher.

Years after becoming a physician, I was teaching full-time in a medical school and had an opportunity to visit the college I attended. I took that opportunity to track down my genetics professor.

I told him that I was now a medical school professor, and I was grateful that he had played a meaningful role in my becoming a physician. He was beaming when I told him how thankful I was.

I suggest you tell someone who made an important impact on your life what that meant to you. You will both enjoy it.

Peter M. Hartmann, MD

Family Medicine & Psychiatry

Drawing

The Art of Drawing

What skill would you like to learn?

I ‘d like to learn to draw well. I enjoy playing around with drawing but never developed to a level beyond an inexperienced beginner.

To achieve my goal I have purchased a video educational series from The Great Courses program. Hopefully, I can advance using this approach.

My career (medicine) has been very science oriented, although medicine can be said to be an art informed by science. A doctor has to make decisions based on the science, of course, but decisions must also take into account factors not clearly addressed by science.

Examples include: the wishes of the patient, financial concerns, the environment in which the patient lives, what is important to the patient, relationship issues, communication barriers, and so on.

Doing “pure” art would expand my life experience and tap into different elements of my mental and physical capabilities. It seems worthwhile and fun to do during retirement.

We shall see how it goes!

Peter Hartmann, MD

What Does It Mean?

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?

Confused

The word I would give up is “literally.” It’s definition was “a word or phrase meaning just what it says and is not a simile or a metaphor.” So, if I said, “That boxer had hands of stone,” I was probably using a metaphor, i.e., his hands were actually human skin and bones, but he hit so hard it was as if he had stones for hands.

On the other hand, if the boxer had his hands amputated and replaced with stones, I would have meant it literally when I said, “He had hands of stone.”

However, in the last couple of decades literally has been used as a form of emphasis. For example, after missing the beginning of the Super Bowl one year, the speaker said, “It was literally the worst day of my life.”

However, it wasn’t the worst day of his life; the day his 6-year-old son was killed in an auto accident was. The speaker knew that but just wanted to emphasize that he was extremely upset about missing part of the game. He did not literally mean it was the worst day of his life (yet, that was the word he used for emphasis).

Given this change in the use of the word, if I use it, the listener does not know if I am using it just for emphasis or I mean it to be understood as being literal and not as a simile or metaphor.

It seems strange even to me that I am disturbed (a little) that a word I used for years to explain something now cannot be used without a real risk of being misunderstood.

So, the word I would be willing to eliminate from my vocabulary is “literally.” 🤔

Peter M. Hartmann, MD

Family Medicine & Psychiatry

A Healthier World

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

Improving People’s Health

My goal is to improve people’s health through education. This includes awareness of social determinants of health and wellbeing.

Sadly, there is a lot of misinformation on the internet about health topics. By using research- supported information, I hope to counter this trend.

I am not naive enough to think that my blog will succeed in overturning a lot of the misinformation that is out there. However, I am trying to do my part.

Peter M. Hartmann, MD

Family Medicine & Psychiatry

Great Teachers

What makes a teacher great?

Teaching and Learning

Here are 9 qualities of a great teacher:

1. Show that you care about your students as people.

2. Know your subject matter in more depth than will be expected of your students. Thus, you can answer difficult questions they may have.

3. Project your confidence that your students are capable of learning the material.

4. Teach critical thinking. Do not insist that they agree with you but be able to defend their position.

5. Help students understand and can use what they learn and not merely memorize things.

6. Be fair.

7. Teach students how to learn by telling them about research-proven methods.

8. Be interesting.

9. Maintain classroom decorum.

Peter M. Hartmann, MD

Family Medicine & Psychiatry