As you likely know, I am one to look for the brighter side of things ... and I will continue to believe that positive outcomes can be the result even if they are, sadly, stimulated by tragic events. It is quite clear that we are not a society nor a people who are free from racism, discrimination and bias; rather than looking outward, I have chosen to look inward with the belief that change begins with me. I have done a lot of soul searching in recent weeks and have explored my deeper recesses. While I very much wish to believe that I am devoid of all bias, who of us really is? Is there not some element in ALL of us, conscious or unconscious, that is innately most comfortable with those who look, walk, talk and think like us? I confess this NOT to justify it, but to pity it and to strive to overcome my insecurities and my human frailties.

 

I am proud of my life achievements as I have worked hard to accomplish them, but I cannot say that everyone among us has been given the same starting blocks and supporting cast that I have enjoyed. Can we ... can I ... acknowledge to myself and my fellow humans that I look at life through the lens of my life experience and value system ... and that the very same view may look quite different when seen through another lens? My heart and my soul are tired of polarizing viewpoints, arguments and fighting with little advancement toward an ideal where we care about one another and seek the commonalities that beat within each of our hearts. I'm tired of symbolic words and actions ... and yearn, instead, for real change that stirs deep within us and brings about civility, empathy, and concern for one another. I dream of a life and time when we can put away our differences and seek first to understand, to care and to value one another ... not despite our differences, but because of them. Travel to that magical time and place can start today in your heart and in mine if we can pause, even for a moment, and strain to look at life through another's lens. Perhaps we can even be brave enough to walk with someone different than ourselves while discussing what each of us sees and feels as we walk. I believe this personal, heart-level change is fundamental to meaningful, durable, and wider sweeping societal action.

 

As an organization, VOS celebrates the advancement of science and discovery that leads to improved patient care and quality of life. We must do so in a community in which all members feel valued, supported, respected, encouraged and safe. Achieving this community requires personal and corporate commitment to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are our strengths, not our weaknesses. VOS must be a community where human contribution to the betterment of our world is fostered, facilitated, encouraged and celebrated equally regardless of the color of our skin, our sex, how we see and identify ourselves, whom we choose to love, the age of our bones, the language that we speak or the spiritual guidance that we seek.

 

When we gather again, let's find time to have that walk, to share what we each see and what we feel ... and let's celebrate that which makes us each unique and special. I am so looking forward to being with you in March 2021 in Big Sky, Montana.