Counterpoint - Star Trails

Counterpoint - Star Trails

19th October, 2011.

Last night I enjoyed an uncommon 'first' - I looked through a super duper refractory telescope into a clear night sky. Through the maze of the Scorpius constellation my guide, Chris Ellis, a consulting Astronomer and President of the Melbourne Astronomical Society, found the elusive Antares, a red super giant star in the late stages of stellar evolution.

Antares is a fascinating and beautiful red giant and looking through the Zeiss eyepiece of Chris' Ferrari equivalent of telescopes made me think: every night people peer into history when they look at the light from the stars. Star light was generated many millions of years ago. In some cases, the stars we look at have collapsed, gone super nova and now cease to exist, yet here was their light, shining on, traveling on through time as a testimony to the power and purpose of the structure that went before.

And it occurred to me, that in the same way we shine on, particularly as Rotarians, beyond the immediacy of our discrete contributions to this world, to linger in the hearts and minds of others by virtue of our actions. The story of the stars is also the story of us all. How will you shine on?

Cheers,

President JO

My Dream Is Not For Sale!

I confess I have a problem - I love opportunity. I love new concepts, new challenges, and problem solving. There is something about a challenge that lures me, like Persephone to the pomegranate seed, coaxing me to have just a small taste and change my focus just enough to forget my existing goals for the adventure of a new one.

And like Persephone I pay a price. I am constantly fighting the desire to know and do more because I know in the wake of all those tempting new tastes lie the remnants of a thousand old goals; once dreamt of, worked for, invested in, now lost to time, unrealised and a source of enduring shame.

What is so hard, is that I rarely notice the moment of transition when my focus jumps from one thing to another. What you cannot see can be very difficult to fight.

And as is the way for me, every so often my real dream, the one that has pursued me since childhood, taps me on the shoulder and says: "Jo, what are you doing about me? You forgot again, didn't you?" And the pit of my stomach grips me, and I realise another year has gone by.

So today I ask you, what is your dream? Is your dream for sale? What minutiae of daily life distracts you?

Yesterday I got my dream back. A year's worth of hobbies, family duties and academic distractions stood aside.
Those who know me, know I love medicine and that my heart is set on helping others through medicine.
Now I am back on track - My dream is NOT for sale!

Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, said:
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

How much persistence do you have? As much as it takes? Will you own your own home? Build an innovative business? Truly help the poor in Nepal? Keep your focus! Don't leave your dream behind! Don't be tempted by that pomegranate seed lest one day the gates from the underworld close forever...

Steve Jobs, famed former CEO of Apple and US industrialist, made this impassioned plea:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

My dream is not for sale.
My dream is not for sale.
My dream is not for sale.

Yours in Rotary,

President JO BEILBY (2011-2012)

Counterpoint - Real Men Do Cry (And so do their children)

Counterpoint – Real Men Do Cry (and so do their children)

October 5th, 2011.

Saturday came and went fairly peacefully for me; I was engrossed in study and trying to avoid the Grand Final. By the end, Collingwood supporters were none too pleased I gather, and Geelong, well, they were ecstatic. It seems real men do cry after all.

As the evening passed, my 69 year old father, whom many of you may have met at the Changeover Night, failed to enjoy his roast pork belly and baked veg dinner. His chest felt uncomfortable, as it had done the day before, and it was putting him off his food. As is often the case with people in cardiac distress, he put it down to indigestion, and tried instead to watch The Great Escape.

(Yes, this is one of those articles when you know what is going to happen. Like Romeo and Juliet we are forewarned in the opening scenes and left with the tyranny of time to slowly play out the outcome.)

By midnight there was an elephant in the bedroom at Dad’s, and it was sitting on his chest. The paramedics were called and he was shuffled between two ambulances, one a MICA where a second major attack occurred; then two hospitals, the last being Monash Medical Centre, where a team of cardiac care specialists were standing by to see him safely to the Cath Lab.

Into the groin and up through a blood vessels, the team did not miss a beat. They placed one stent into an artery on the front of Dad’s heart and bingo! - the elephant was gone. No zebras, horses or even horses’ hooves. Modern medicine had stepped in and dealt with the signs and symptoms of years of neglect, heart disease and risk factors in barely an hour. 

Dad was lucky, and so was I. I was nowhere near ready to lose him and I thank God I am able to say today that I didn’t. But we all know, if he doesn’t do something about the *starred risk factors below, (the ones he can change), I won’t be able to say that for very much longer.

Heart Disease Risk Factors

Factors you can’t change:
Male? Over 50? Family History?

Factors you can change:
*Smoking? *Overweight? *Diabetes? *Sedentary Lifestyle? *High Cholesterol? *High Blood Pressure? *Depression/isolation/lack of support? *Stress?

Heart Foundation Information