200 K (+ more…)
By
Leonard Zwelling
It has been less than a year since I
began lenzwelling.blogspot.com. We have just passed our 200,000th
page view. There have been close to 180
postings.
I am floored. I guess, as I have said
before, this internet thing is here to stay.
This is a shout out to all who read the
blog regularly or even only once in a while. Thank you very much. This has
allowed me to develop new ideas, to assist me in my new work, and to write some
long and shorter pieces as well as alter my slide presentation. What a gift
this has been!
I wish all you followers of the blog a
happy and healthy new year and I will keep going as long as I can and as long
as you can stand it.
Of course, if knuckleheadedness would
end, I could stop, but, how likely is that?
Stupidity is still a very powerful
force in the universe. Perhaps second only to faith as a mover of men and
women. And mountains….
I still do believe in MD Anderson and
the spirit and energy of all of my former colleagues, living and dead, active
and retired, faculty and non.
I still believe in the Constitution of the United States and all of
those elected and non who have pledged to uphold it and who gave me so much
during my year in DC and since.
I believe in a free press and that those working in the press are
not the enemy unless those who consider them so are doing something wrong.
Neither the press nor the officials the press covers should fear heat or light.
Finally, I, perhaps naively, still believe that medicine should be
a force for good in the world and not a source of wealth. If we doctors want to
regain the stature we had before we became “providers”, we need to act like we
believe in that oath we took at graduation. I dare say, there are an awful lot
of physicians in this world who don’t act like “above all, do no harm” is
really their motto or their mission.
But enough of being a scold. I do that too much. Let’s celebrate
the United States of America, the only country in the world in which a middle
class, Jewish kid from Long Island could grow up to meet rock stars and
Presidents, be on national TV, serve on the staff of the US Senate, and wind up
writing blogs and op-eds while trying to serve the needs of the underserved in
a federally-qualified health clinic.
Above all, IT’S A GREAT
COUNTRY!
EXTRA:
Oh, don’t think I am not
going to complain. Of course, I am. One
of the most frightening articles in recent memory from Friday’s NY Times—especially
if you are a patient undergoing surgery in the near future. Just say for me,
either bring back the long training hours or increase the length of the
residency for surgeons.
