Cheryl D. Lovell, Ph.D.
President, Rocky Vista University
Graduation May 2015
My task today is to provide the President’s charge to you, the RVU Class of 2015. In this Charge I have three gifts to offer you for reflection as you begin this next phase of your life. This next phase many call the professional working years of your life marks the turning point from attending classes and participating in rotations to having the time to perform your calling, your work as a physician. Please keep in mind you will always be a student of some fashion. In fact, we expect you will be a lifelong learner always engaged in educational activities. You are required by the laws of the state that license you as a physician to have continuing education so we know you will be an ongoing student of medicine. So as you make this turn to the new phase of your life, this time should find you thinking about how you will make your mark in your professional community.
I have three gifts, if you will, to give you which I hope you can take advantage of and implement in your manner of work. I trust they become your habits of the heart and lead you to greater successes. The gifts are not in a box or something tangible to hold and take with you or something to look at for a moment and then put on a shelf, but rather they are gifts of free advice from me to you so you can put these into your tool box.
The three gifts of advice include:
- Always have the integrity and faith to make tough decisions in difficult times
- Always live your life from a point of optimism where you see the good in others and situations, have a positive outlook on life, and take full advantage of the luck that crosses your path
- Always keep a humorous spirit and live with passion and levity
I’d like to take each of these and quickly expand on them to give you a better idea of what I mean.
First, to live a life where you have faith and integrity to make tough decisions in difficult times is something you as physicians you will be doing on a regular basis. Whether you are making a quick decision to save a life or maybe a long thought out plan of recovery for a patient with a complex illness these decisions require courage. You will make tough decisions every day and most will be in non-optimal conditions where quickness, fortitude, and integrity are needed. What I am describing is your success is predicated on having a backbone (you know, that stamina, grit, and courage) allowing you to see clearly when others might display confusion and panic. It is the kind of decision making you predictable and not weak with direction of what needs to happen next. My first gift of advice is to live a life of honesty, trustfulness, reliability, and uprightness. In other words, you have a backbone, which I believe, requires you live a life of integrity and one based in faith.
Many famous people have talked about what integrity and faith mean and I offer a few examples:
Alan Simpson once noted: “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”
Our First Lady, Michelle Obama notes: “We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters – that you don’t take short cuts or play by your own set of rules…and success does not count unless you earn it fair and square.”
Martin Luther King, Jr – “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Others have added important thoughts about integrity:
“Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain.”
“Integrity is doing the right thing even if nobody is watching.”
A key point about having a backbone then is the foundation should be based on faith and integrity. It defines who you are and frankly, integrity and faith are very handy tools to have when you need to make difficult decisions requiring a strong backbone.
My second gift of advice to you is to live a life of optimism and have a wishful attitude of hopefulness, have aspirations for yourself and others, and live the kind of life where you see the half full rather than the half empty view. Finding your way through life with a positive outlook can add years to your life with healthy living, keep you young in spirit, and can be contagious to those around you. This kind of positive outlook makes you the one others want to be around. A positive attitude can also be the result of good fortune or luck…being in the right place at the right time. I wish you luck. It might be the kind of luck, perhaps that you might obtain from grabbing the long end of the wishbone.
I thought you might be interested to know the wishbone, a tradition for many in the US, dates back to the Pilgrims bringing it from Europe. I’ve learned it dates back well before the pilgrims landed on these shores. In fact, Adams in 1993, noted that the wishbone tradition dates back over 2,400 years.
He states, “During that era, (By the way, the “Etruscan civilization flourished between 800 and 300 BC”) the Etruscan people believed that fowl could predict the future. Each day the hen’s squawking would announce that she was laying an egg and the dawning of a new day was then broadcast by the early morning crowing of the rooster.
Further, they maintained, if a chicken was killed, the collarbone was thought to be sacred, thus it was not touched and was left to dry in the sun. The people gathered around to hold the unbroken bone and made a wish in hopes of it bringing them good luck. The “wishbone tradition” was derived from this early practice.”
I further learned, the Roman’s embraced many of the Etruscan customs. The people of Rome began fighting over the unbroken bones of chickens because they wanted good fortune. Adams indicates it the phrases, “I need a lucky break,” or “I never get a break,” came from the loser in the tug of collarbone contest. This quickly spread throughout England, and the English people referred to the breaking of the bones as “merry-thoughts.” We should be very thankful to Adams who wrote about the wishbone tradition!
This kind of luck and optimism is what I wish for you. Hopefully your luck will not come from the breaking of bones. However, your luck can come from being prepared, being ready for the challenges of your day, and taking advantage of the good educational experiences you have had at RVU.
In Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about this kind of awareness as the “Return on Luck” where he speaks to organizations being able to capitalize on unplanned events. He has come up with a way to measure how much companies benefited from these unpredictable events, whether good or bad. Let your strong preparation and the good luck you come across guide your path. May your preparation allow you to have the “Return on Luck” that will propel your career. To do this, you need to be open to opportunity and have the readiness to know it when you see it.
The final gift of advice I offer you is to have a sense of humor. If you don’t have one I can only hope you develop it quickly. One of my most fond written comments from student course evaluations is the remark that “Dr. Lovell has a wicked sense of humor.” I must admit when I first read that I thought it was something offensive until I asked one of my faculty colleagues about it and found that it was a colloquialism from the northeast. She went on to state everyone from Boston says “that is wicked cool, or that is wicked good.” So make sure you have a wicked sense of humor and always find time to laugh at yourself. For me it is not a big deal as often others are laughing with me (not at me).
Many have written about humor and then need for laughter. Some of the more famous quotes include:
“Laughter is the best medicine”
“Blessed are they that can laugh at themselves, for they will never cease to be amused.”
HW Beeker is known to say “A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It’s jolted by every pebble on the road.”
So my third gift of humor is important. It is everywhere and we just need to go about trying to find it and bring it into our lives appropriately.
If you have been following me and thinking about these three gifts I offer you, you would have noticed something special about these three pieces of advice:
- I wish you to have a backbone
- I wish you to have a wishbone
- I wish you to have a funny bone
Not a bad set of advice for students who are about to be awarded an osteopathic medical degree! By the way, I must acknowledge a fellow president, Dr. Diana Doyle, for the idea of using the bone metaphor.
Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine Graduating Class of 2015, may you find the strength to do your job well, may you find optimism and have the good fortune to take advantage of the luck to come your way, and may you always find humor in yourself and bring levity into your professional and personal life appropriately.
Good luck as you make this important transition.
CLOSING REMARKS:
As our ceremony draws to an end, I encourage each graduate to take a second and pause to look at this beautiful opera house, to hold those feelings of excitement close, and to take in all that has happened today.
Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine Class of 2015 please remember your role, your place, and that now is your time to succeed. Good luck and god speed.
Tags and Key Words:
Keys to Successful Life after Medical School Graduation
Lead a life of integrity
Always have an Optimistic View
Have a Sense of Humor
Have Backbone
Have Wishbone/Dreams
