Conference, day 6: The reckoning

With the closing ceremony came the awards - yearly Dirac and Schrödinger medals, rewards for best conference posters. I considered the past week. Excellent science had been presented. Just not by me. My notebook was full of remarks on better people's research. I frowned. I didn't understand half of it anymore. The other half was interesting, but way out of my league. I considered the other scientists. Some were interested in my work. Looking back, it must have seemed trivial to them. I sighed. Question everything is a scientist's creed. But why does it have to include the scientist's own abilities?