Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Anniversaries

Being in Cincinnati and not having my PC, I do not have an appropriate pic to go along with this piece. This is, however, an important day for me on a personal and a historical basis.

I have had a wonderful few days with my daughter, son in law and grandson (and daughter #2 . and Lady Linda, of course...but I digress). Today the entire family, along with friends got together for ritual and naming of the new member of the world community. It only happens once in a child's life, and only happens once for the first time in mine.

Historically, it was on this day in 1966 that I received my MD degree. That day was the beginning of a long, sometimes arduous and always amazing journey through internship, aerospace medical school, war, residency, fellowship and many years of practice. I have seen so much of life and too much of death because of my chosen path.

One cannot begin to imagine the onus of the responsibility, the privileges of being part of peoples' intimate lives and the adrenalin rush of working to save a human life. It is truly a calling, and I feel my many years in practice have been a worthwhile way to spend my life.

Even now, I continue to keep up, to teach both medical and lay groups and to feel responsible when someone falls ill or is involved in an accident. And this all carries right over to my kayaking and my sense of mutual responsibility for my paddling partners. One fellow paddler, Sherri Mertz, expressed something interesting on our Milwaukee Yahoo net. She was happy, she told us, to see more of the group taking instructor training. To her, it meant that others were sharing the responsibility and that she herself was safer because of the increased skills of those around her.

So, be happy for me, and take care of one another.

Paddle safe...

DS

3 comments:

Kristen said...

A good life, Silbs, from a good man.

Michael said...

That more and more people see the value of training to improve their skills is a great benefit to everyone as we paddle. I also like the idea that it is done by choice rather than regulation. You know the person did the training because they wanted to, and no doubt learned as much as they could, not as little as they could get away with. That must be a 'calling' as well!

Silbs said...

Indeed.