According to scientists, it is the ability to think which distinguishes man from other animals. They say that the basis for everything that makes man unique is thinking, for other animals can run faster, swim and climb trees better, and can fly without the aid of flying machines. But while I am not going to argue this, I do not completely agree with it either. For I believe there is one more thing that makes man unique. It is my belief that man is the animal that thinks and dreams. I feel that the one major reason for man attaining the heights which he has today is because man dreams. It was because Columbus dreamed of finding a new way to the Orient that he discovered America. It was because man has had an endless dream to fly that the Wright Brothers invented the airplane. I could give an endless list of such discoveries and inventions which are the end result, whether through foresight or by chance, of man's dreaming but will refrain from doing so for the very reason that it is endless. But, it is because man dreams that "great leaps for mankind," as astronaut Neil Armstrong said when he stepped onto the surface of the moon, have been made. I believe this is what is wrong with society in India today. All , everybody is looking for is stability, few people have a dream to work towards. Many young people blame this on the so-called "Age of Apathy," which they claim is the present period. To me this claim ridiculous. Not having a dream or not working for something you believe in is not something which can blamed on others. The only one you can blame is yourself. It is you who have to do something, nobody is responsible for you. It is up to you to discover something to work for and it is up to you to bring forth the will power to reach that something. You may wonder how to go about creating a dream for yourself and how to achieve it. But this, too, is something no one can give you any help with. All I can say is that you ought to try to set up something big as your dream. Something which would call for all that you have in you, or perhaps more. Something which would demand that you give your total devotion, something which you believe you want to obtain most of all. This can be anything, it doesn't really matter how big it is as long as you believe you can devote yourself to it and are capable of achieving it. It can be something like wanting to perfect a surgery, to something as big as working towards the Nobel Prize. The importance lies not in what you are working for, but in the fact that you are working towards something. Nor does it really matter whether you succeed or not, as long as you believe you have given your utmost. Because through this process alone you are improving yourself and developing your capabilities. I can think of nothing more satisfying or important.
I was particularly impressed by one of President Ronald Reagan's memorable quotes: Aim for the top, Pray to God & Hope for the Best. That should be our philosophy & it should be our endeavor to strive for excellence in all aspects in our life. I would conclude with a story that applies to all of us in the medical profession. In ancient times there was a philosopher who had many disciples. One day a cynical young man decided to humiliate him by asking him a question he couldn't possibly answer correctly. The cynic put a recently hatched chick in the palm of his hand and asked the philosopher, in front of a large audience, whether what he had in his hand was dead or alive. His intention, if the philosopher said `alive,' was to crush the chick to death and show the master to be wrong. If the philosopher said `dead,' then he planned to let the chick live--to prove the great man wrong.
In response to the question, the philosopher looked the cynic in the eye, smiled, and calmly replied: `The answer, my son, lies in your hands. Well, like that young man, the future of our profession lies in our hands. Our actions over the next few years will determine whether allopathic medicine--as we know it today--will be alive with research. . . and will thrive. . . or only a memory. Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. And scientific meetings such as our annual meetings (www.sisab.net/tubes2007) are soul keepers of the society.
