As I watched this sad period in the history of our country unfold I was overtaken with a sense of powerlessness. I then remembered two lessons I learned during my career as a pediatric surgeon. The first occurred during my first job as an assistant professor of surgery. I was incensed by an episode of academic politics and was tempted to speak out but realized if I did I would pay a price. I vented my frustration to my wise and famous boss, Dr. Mark Ravitch, a battle scarred warrior of the political and academic world. He said – “before Socrates drank the hemlock he began his defense by saying –never let it be said that I had a podium and failed to speak. – You have a big mouth use it”.

The second lesson came later when I became depressed realizing the huge number of children suffering from potentially correctable diseases and abnormalities and how little one person could do. I then began to think about the ripple effect – the ever-expanding effect that even one person can have by teaching and striving to be a role model. I realized that young people are astute observers and learn not by what their teachers say but by the way they act, how true they are to the principles they teach and most important by not selling out when being principled becomes painful and dangerous. Kids spot phonies a mile away.

Three people I have greatly admired, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Robert Kennedy all have spoken of the ripple effect. To quote Robert Kennedy who spoke of the ripple effect during the tumultuous civil rights strife – “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

This carving I call the Ripple. The pond and thrower is carved from a branch and cross-section of bass wood, the shoreline is made from Sanibel sand and the stone in the pond is a small piece of river rock.