Vanderbilt White Coat Ceremony

Last weekend, I had the honor to attend the White Coat Ceremony at Vanderbilt's School of Medicine welcoming the Class of 2018 into the ranks of the medical profession.  Dr. Bonnie Miller, Sr. Associate Dean for Medical Education, introduced the philosophy behind the new curriculum 2.0 and challenged the incoming students to a life of service and leadership in medicine.  I was struck by three of the sentences she delivered:

1. "This is a teaching hospital.  Everyone teaches - teachers, students, and patients."
2. "Our job is not simply to give you the skills to be good doctors.  Our job is to challenge you to use those skills to achieve leadership in medicine"
3. "It is an honor to serve the suffering."

These words immediately reminded me of the values and principles fostered through the Scouting program.

1. The patrol method - everyone on the team has something to contribute based on their unique perspective and experience.  
2. The path to Eagle - starts with a mastery of the skills achieved by the rank of 1st Class, and continues as the individual applies those skills to help others in increasing roles of responsibility.
3. Servant leadership - the challenge to lead by example.

I came to the event with feelings of both pride and trepidation - will my son manage the rigors of training at one of the nation's top medical schools?  But I left reassured that my Eagle Scout was embarking on a journey well equipped to meet the challenges that Dr. Miller set forth.      

Learning to Think at Yale

I arrived at Yale on the Sunday before Labor Day in 1978 well equipped with the tools needed to engage in the process of learning. I had good study habits and a workable command of the mechanics of writing, so I could ably convey an argument. What I had yet to grasp, however, was how to Think. From the perspective of thirty-one years, I now understand that learning how to think is the most valuable lesson that Yale had to teach. In retrospect, I recognize that it was an incremental process, one which Georgetown's President John Degioia describes as "self-formation,"  one that started with a development of self-understanding - a recognition of the values I hold dear and an understanding of my place in the cosmos. The knowledge that was shared is called in-formation, whose roots suggest the formation of the mind. The pursuit of in-formation is a quest to understand, at deeper and deeper levels, some aspect of ourselves, of others, and of our world. The importance of self-understanding to the process of self-formation has long been known - as Socrates reminds us, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Thus, from the Humanities, I gained exposure to creativity and the basic human values of honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice. I began to form my own positions relative to those values and to react to situations in the context of those positions.  From the Social Sciences, I gained perspective of where I stand relative to others, and formulated an understanding of my role in the context of a community. From the Physical Sciences, I developed a deep appreciation for the workings of the natural world in which I exist. Inherent in this process of formation is the fundamental question of what constitutes an authentic life. While individual facts surrounding a given subject are long forgotten and are perhaps irrelevant, what remains is an ability to integrate, to synthesize, to frame a problem in a new and unique context, to ask meaningful questions, and by answering them, to create new knowledge. Equally important is the ability to challenge and critique existing knowledge, to see patterns, make connections and identify anomalies. Together, these capabilities impart a way of being, a way of engaging in the world. At its core, a "liberal" education is a "philosophical habit," a way of life. It provides skills to discern truth(s), and it paves the way to lead the good life. And if this life is to be of greater value, the it must reflect a commitment to the common good; it must be dedicated to enriching the public discourse and to responding to the needs of our community. Learning how to Think has been a life-long process, one that for me started when I first set foot on Yale's Old Campus in 1978.

Rememberance

Re-memberance, synonomous with re-collection, is a retained mental impression, a memory.  Its roots imply the reassembly of disparate parts, the re-creation of a whole.  It has a wistful connotation, the suggestion of a time when things were in one piece, un-broken.  It implies a process of dis-memberment and introduces the scientific concept of entropy, the tendency toward chaos, to our life experience.  From the time we are born, our lives begin to fragment. We go away to school, move away from our parents, pursue employment opportunities around the country (sometimes around the world), and our childhood friends disperse. Ultimately, we find ourselves in a location far from where we came, separated from much of our family, with little or no memory of the history which would enable us to belong to that place we now call home.  Wallace Stegner, the author often referred to as "The Dean of Western Writers," explores this process of dislocation in his novel Angle of Repose.  In the work, Lyman Ward, a wheelchair bound amputee who is alienated from his son and largely dis-membered from the rest of his living family, settles down in the house built by his grandparents and begins to re-assemble the facts about their frontier-era wanderings - in effect, re-membering thier lives. Mid-way though the process he wonders: 

I wonder if ever again Americans can have that experience of returning to a home place so intimately known, profoundly felt, deeply loved, and absolutely submitted to? It is not quite true that you can't go home again. I have done it, coming back here. But it gets less likely. We have had too many divorces, we have consumed too much transportation, we have lived too shallowly in too many places.

And so, like Lyman Ward, we remember; we turn the clock back to a time before it all came apart, to a place who's memory is our history.  Wendell Berry, the writer who has a good sense of his place along the Kentucky River, argues that if you don't know where you are (ie., remember the history, experience with the senses, suffer the catastrophes), you don't know who you are.  As we chase opportunity in our quest for ownership, we jetison history and a sense of belonging.  Yet, our self-identity is framed by what we re-member about where we came from.  How well can we re-place ourselves at a time, in a location where we truly belong?  That is the challenge of re-memberance.  

Non nobis solum nati sumus

Questions I ask every Eagle Scout candidate:

1. Years from now, how will people know that you're an Eagle Scout?
2. What is your legacy?

When it comes right down to it, it's all about understanding your duty - your Duty to God and your Country, your duty to other people, and your duty to yourself. The Scout Oath spells out these duties very clearly. First, follow the rules - those of your faith and those of your community.  Second, help other people at all times - pretty self explanatory.  Finally, take care of your self.  As they say in the airplane safety briefing, put on your oxygen mask and then assist others.  The Scout Law proscribes a set of behaviors that model an exemplary individual and an upstanding citizen.  It addresses fundamental character traits like Trust, Loyalty and Obedience, as well as characteristics that mark a good friend like courtesy and kindness.  It also spells out personal behaviors of a model citizen like Bravery (the courage to do what is right), Cleanliness and Reverence.  It is the fundamental obligation of an Eagle Scout to live up to these duties and to model these behaviors not only now, but many years from now.  "Once and Eagle, always an Eagle."  That's how people recognize an Eagle Scout even when they no longer wear a Scout uniform.  But the designation "Eagle Scout" is really just a label.  What matters is the individual and the content of his character.  The path to Eagle established a strong moral and behavioral foundation.

And that's how Eagle Scouts distinguish themselves as leaders.  By consistently performing their duties, they set the right example.  By modeling the right behaviors, they gain the respect of others. Together, they inspire people to do the right thing.  And the right thing often involves helping, teaching, and enabling others - usually those who follow them.  It's called servant leadership - a concept that challenges the common perception of organizational hierarchy.  The world's most inspiring leaders have all been servants first:

• Nelson Mandela - Spent 20 years in jail for his opposition to apartheid. After release he became first President of democratic South Africa and helped heal the wounds of apartheid by his magnanimous attitude to his former political enemies.

• Martin Luther King - Inspired millions of people black and white to aspire for a more equal and just society.

• Jesus Christ - Taught a message of love, forgiveness and faith. Born in a turbulent period of Roman rule, after his crucifixion, his message inspired millions around the world.

• Thomas Jefferson - Helped draft the Declaration of Independence and a belief in human rights. Jefferson passed one of the first bills on religious tolerance in his state of Virginia. Sought to improve education and was a noted polymath with a wide range of interests.

• Mother Teresa - Sought to identify with and offer compassion to the unloved and destitute. Lived a life of voluntary poverty and service to the poor.

• Abraham Lincoln  - In his famous Gettysburg speech, he inspired the nation with his noble words and helped to bring about the abolishment of slavery.

• Mahatma Gandhi  - Principle figurehead of the Indian independence movement. Taught a philosophy of non-violence and peaceful protest.

The dedication of these individuals to their country and to other people, and their commitment to uphold an exemplary standard of behavior were contributing factors to what we perceive as their legacy - the good they accomplished on behalf of others. That's the true measure of an individuals legacy, what they did to better the lives of those who follow them.  Some call it "Paying it forward." An Eagle Scout, like great leaders before him, recognizes that non nobis solum nati sumus, not for ourselves alone are we born.  By acting on this understanding, an Eagle Scout leaves his legacy. 

Ritual and Creed

Ritual and creed,
both unifying and dividing,
the substance of a force
both nebulous and defining,
proclaiming peace
but the cause of war,
forever studied,
but never fully understood
or certainly never agreed upon.

Grampy never questioned, yet
he never really believed
in the pomp of his weekly routine.
His ritual was simple -
he lived a Good life.
His creed was expressed
in words strange to me
a half century ago,
"In you I see God,
and he is smiling."
Now I see my son,
and I understand.