To Bear Witness: A Journey of Healing and Solidarity

Part Two: Academia

85 Part Two: Academia A significant portion of my adult life has been spent in academia. Research and teaching have been an integral part of my medical career, but, as will be clear from the speeches and essays selected for this section, I do not accept a restrictive definition for my profession. Institutions of higher education, including medical schools and teaching hospitals, should provide a civil setting for dialogue and investigation of, especially, competing ideas and ideologies. The search for wisdom and understanding can flourish in the open and tolerant atmosphere expected of a university. This requires probing questions, honest debates, and challenges to sometimes almost universally accepted positions. Over the past decades I have given dozens of university commencement addresses and probably hundreds of speeches about public policy in medical centers and other institutions of higher learning. My approach to most such talks was to seek an historical foundation, offer a global perspective, even for tragedies such as occurred on September 11th, and pose provocative questions to stimulate thought and discussion. The Irish poet William Butler Yeats once described the tool he used in battle: “But weigh this song with the great and their pride / I made it out of a mouthful of air, / Their children’s children shall say they have lied.” To persuade and educate a hostile or, even worse, an uninterested audience requires knowledge and logic and, if possible, humor. I have enjoyed the intellectual stimulation that flourishes in academic debate and have learned more than I have taught in the probing questions posed by students. The lecture theater is, for me, an extension of fieldwork in the tropics; the dress code may be different, and usually less comfortable, but the same passion and discipline are required to deliver a coherent message in a defined time. New Y ork - 2004 The Irish poet William Butler Yeats once described the tool he used in battle: “But weigh this song with the great and their pride / I made it out of a mouthful of air, / Their children’s children shall say they have lied.” To persuade and educate a hostile or, even worse, an uninterested audience requires knowledge and logic and, if possible, humor. I have enjoyed the intellectual stimulation that flourishes in academic debate and have learned more than I have taught in the probing questions posed by students. The lecture theater is, for me, an extension of fieldwork in the tropics; the dress code may be different, and usually less comfortable, but the same passion and discipline are required to deliver a coherent message in a defined time. New Y ork - 2004 ...