This story is part of America @ 250: The Questions Before Us, a series from IPM News and the Illinois Student Newsroom.
CHAMPAIGN — A birthday is a time for celebration and reflection: Where have we been? Where are we right now? And where are we going?
IPM is celebrating America’s 250th birthday by inviting people from across east-central Illinois to share what they think are the most important questions facing Americans at this historic moment.
Decatur resident Ranjohd Singh is a general and colorectal surgeon at Decatur Memorial Hospital. He emigrated from India in 2003 to attend medical school. Singh is a member of the Sikh Religious Society of Central Illinois. He lives in Decatur with his wife and two teenage children.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
When I do a colonoscopy in the morning, everybody’s colon is the same color.
We all are born out of one Lord, one superpower. That’s exactly what my religion tells me. We are all created from one, so we are a part of him. So why we are having ‘one is better than the other’?
Sikhism has given me a strength, made me humble at the same time. We have a concept of seva — help others, put somebody else’s interest first, and if somebody is in need, I will sacrifice myself to help that person.
I grew up in India, very remote village in India. We didn’t have a good health care at all. People around my family, they actually died because of lack of proper care and health care. I’ll tell you, my mom had breast cancer. She had a pain in her breast. And we didn’t know what was going on. Went to a doc saying, like, “Oh, nothing. It’s all right.” Six months later, we find she has stage four breast cancer. That was the trigger point for me to become a physician.
I always want to serve an area where there is a lack of specialty care. So when I moved to Decatur in 2014 — small community, middle of nowhere — that kind of gave me a little goosebumps. Like, I might be treated differently just because of the way I look. I knew I would be faced with challenges because if somebody comes to India, they will have their own challenges. I knew that, and I did face it.
But look at where I am today. I go to Walmart shopping, I see some of my patients. They give me a hug, make my day. And there is no such feeling in this world when my patients give me a hug and say, ‘Thank you, you made a difference.’ That is the joyful moment that I cannot describe.
I’m proud that I’m Sikh. I’m proud I’m American. When people say, “Hey, is the American dream still alive?” Absolutely. Look at me. I came from India with few dollars and one small suitcase. And now I’m a surgeon. God has given me the pathway and here I am. This is home. This is home.
Here, I know my rights are protected. I can question authority without fear. And then have an independent court system and nobody can influence. Everybody is going to be judged at the same level. That’s the way I look at it. Why a lot of people moved here, including myself? Bbecause we didn’t had these liberties. America is the best nation in the world, I can tell you that. I have traveled to so many countries. This is heaven.
People might say we are divided. Yes, we are divided. But look at it. We are still making strides. Look, historically where we are right now. Technology is booming. We are having electric cars. We are going to space. We got Starlink, cancer care treatments, robotics, look at AI impacting everything we do in our daily life. Some of my work is done by AI. Look at the information given to us. We are living in unprecedented times. I think what we are experiencing is extraordinary.
If you ask me, the biggest question right now in front of the American is how we come together and how we can have a bright future, and we still are the world power and the best country to live in.
We have to break the shackles of extreme left and extreme right. We have to give up something from both the sides, meet in the middle, shake hands, come up with a solution and move forward.
We have a lot of challenges. We need to solve those in a meaningful way.
America is not what it was 250 years ago. Things have evolved. Different people from different backgrounds have moved in and so we have to accommodate everybody. We just cannot be all or none or this is my way or no way. We have to work together.
We all are equal. We need to be treated equal. We need to see God in everybody. Treat everybody as if you are looking at God and praising him.
God bless America.
This story was reported by University of Illinois Journalism Professor Charles “Stretch” Ledford. If you have an idea for the America @ 250 series or would like to be featured in an upcoming story, please contact Stretch at stretch@illinois.edu.