A SPEECH I WON’T BE GIVING
“For everything, there is a season. . .a time to keep, and a time to cast away. . .”—Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3:6
“It’s time.” –Cal Ripkin, Jr., September 20, 1998, on his decision to stay out of the Baltimore Orioles’ starting line-up after playing a record setting 2,632 consecutive major league baseball games.
In the spring of 1994, Dr. Bill Hunter, the Associate Dean of Creighton’s Medical School, asked me to give a talk titled “The Art and Science of Medicine” to the incoming first year medical students. I shrugged and thought sure, why not?
I’d barely arrived at Creighton and was new to the academic world. My previous practice had been in rural hospitals, either caring for patients or trying to pass on practical information to future small-town docs. I was the last person to be giving this talk to a bunch of medical students.
So I agreed. It was no big deal. Besides, it would just be one year. Instead, I wound up giving the talk to incoming students for the next 29.
But I won’t be giving the speech this year. Or the next.
And not because I wasn’t asked. Once again, my friend and colleague Dr. Mike Kavan requested that I speak. This time I said no.
Why? Because like Cal Ripkin, I realized it was time. Time for someone who was younger. Time for someone more relatable to the students. Time for a new face and some new energy.
I’ve often wondered how many students—now practicing physicians, some of whom may have even retired themselves by now—actually remembered my talk. A mix of humor and seriousness, it was meant to set students on the right track as they moved forward in their careers. I hope it did just that. And I hope whoever gives a similar talk in the future will do the same.
I usually gave the speech “live” each year to the new students. But fumbling around in some old computer files, I found a copy of my talk the year of the pandemic. It was delivered to a computer screen, recorded, and later viewed by students.
I hated doing that. I’m not much for talking to screens. I just hope I got my message across.
Many of the issues I touched on—social justice, caring for others, competing with yourself instead of getting wrapped up in competing against others—also apply to life in general, and not just to medicine. If you happen to listen to the link below, there might be a little something there for all of us.
Be forewarned. If appearances are a big deal to you, you’ll be disappointed. I was getting some serious dental work done, and my teeth looked pretty bad. The lights also go off in the middle of the speech, and I had to get up and figure out where the switch was. Hopefully that didn’t detract too much.
So if you have the time, and want to listen/watch some of the presentation, the link is below. I’ll be back in a few days to talk about one of the deadliest and most neglected health care risks in America. It’s called pregnancy. See you then.
Don, I watched your lecture and it made me miss working with you. There were lots of good thoughts there that would apply equally to law students and probably just about every other group of professional students.
For reasons too absurd to be recalled, the Nebraska Bar Association asked me to give a look back 50 years ago at the luncheon honoring lawyers who had been members of the Nebraska Bar Association for 50 years. For several years I had a sure-fire joke, which was to point out that I hadn’t yet been born that year. Then, ahem, I could say it was a year I couldn’t remember. Now it’s a year I remember darn well and good.
I hope I can screw up the courage at some point to say “it’s time.”
The dealing with Panopto brought back horrid memories of recording lectures in the spring of 2020. Zoom was a slight improvement. I’m happy to be back live. But despite the issue with the lights, I thought it was well done. I liked the reference to the Jesuits. If anyone needs to learn the charisms of the Jesuits, it’s professional students.
Thank you, Pat. I miss our V.P. days, too, though not some of the headaches. Bottom line is that I think we did a lot of good for a lot of people. Even if it sometimes had to be virtually.
Don,
It has now been 46 years for me. You gave so many truths about the Art and Science of Medicine and also of being a human being. We have been so privileged to have that sacred relationship with our patients. I worry about the wonderful young brilliant physicians that come after us. Between large debt from education and the medical business complex reducing them to a factory worker producing a widget called a CPT code, I see them struggle to maintain their all truism and interest to the service of mankind. You may feel you are beyond your time but your message is even more relevant today. As usual thanks for your wisdom and your ability to articulate that wisdom.
Joe Miller
Thank you, Joe. All of us in health care, regardless of our specialty or profession, are human. Hopefully all future health care providers can hang on to that through whatever lies ahead. But as you point out, it won’t be easy.
Wonderful talk Don!
Thank you, Rick. I’m hoping to be able to get down to Columbia this fall and say hello to everyone.