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NMA AWARDS SCHOLARSHIP
A $1,000 scholarship from the
National Medical Association was
presented Thursday to John Allen
Walker, a freshman medical stu
dent at Duke University. Walker,
of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate
of Columbia University was handed
the scholarship award by Dr.
Charles D. Watts, a Durham physi
cian and member of the National
Medical Association. Assisting
in the presentation was Dr.
William G. Anlyan, Dean of the
School of Medicine at Duke.
DEAN S HOUR SCHEDULE
Spring 1968
Jan. 4 Dr. Robert Q. Marston, Director of NXH Reg
ional Medical Programs.
Jan. 11 Mrs. Ethel Nash, Clinical Associate Prof
essor, Ob & Gyn, UNO, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Jan. 18 Mr. Gerard Peil, Publisher 6. President, Sci
entific American, New York, New York.
Jan. 25- Dr. Brian Blades, Professor and Chairman,
Department of Surgery, George Washington
University, Washington, D.C.
Feb. 1 Dr. Arend Bouhuys, John B. Pierce Foundation
Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut.
Feb. 8 Dr. William 0. Baker, Bell Telephone Labora
tories, Holmdel, New Jersey.
Feb. 15 Major Frank Camp, Division of Thoracic Sur
gery, U.S.A.F., todrews A.F.B., Maryland.
Feb. 22 Dr. John C. Lilly, Director, Communications
Research Institute, Miami, Florida.
Feb. 29 Dr. Francis D. Moore, Moseley, Professor of
Surgery, Harvard Medical School, and Surgeon—
in-Chief, Peter Bent Brigham.
Mar. 7 Dr. Seymour L. Halleck, Professor of Psychia
try, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wise.
Mar. 14 Dr. Robert Petersdorf, Chairman of the Depart
ment of Medicine, University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington.
Mar, 21 Dr. Norton Zinder, Rockefeller University,
New York, New York.
All lectures are held in the Hospital Amphitheatre
at 5:00 p.m., and are preceded by an informal cof
fee—tea reception in the Hospital Dining Room, at
4:30 p.m.
Every 12 months, the same phrases, words and hoopla I
I tell you, it is something to guard against. Only
by shielding yourself from the rampant goodwill and in
discriminate smiles can you be certain to maintain that
characteristic preoccupation with your own problems.
You must be disciplined to withstand the onslaught that
people make upon your demeanor. You must fix your mind
on your personal needs and the solution of your prob
lems or quite inadvertently a responsive reaction to
their cheer may overcome you. This responsive reaction
may be accompanied by an uncomfortable emotional in
volvement. You must exert yourself to prevent such
unfortunate incidents from occurring. If these joy
makers actually do get to you there will still be some
hope for you to regain your "cool" and return to closer
identification with your own achievements.
As you know, the period for their celebration is
rather brief - perhaps only a couple of weeks. They
ooze charity and goodness this brief while, and if you
can maintain a detached observation for this duration,
you will humorously survive. It is an interesting
phenomenon, I must say. They go through weeks and
months sometimes without a friendly word in the perfor
mance of their routine tasks. (This Is easy enough
since there are around 4200 people in the Medical Cen
ter and Incogitant deeds are rather simply performed
and concealed.) Then all of a sudden they expect you
to react to their new real selves - all love and charm.
SICK - something SICKi I mean everyone over 18 months
old knows the white bearded reindeer rider is a fickle
fable, and it certainly can't be a birthday party for
their religious leader since the celebration is marked
by drunkenness and commercialism.
Why all this super sweet hypocrisy for a few weeks
then? In spite of these appropriately cynical observa
tions, may I caution you that abrasiveness or bluntness
may be inhibited by this "spirit of something" if you
are not careful. And don't be impressed by having to
hear the redundant words and phrases like "happy, mer
ry, best wishes, etc." It really is regurgitable, isn't
it? Another humorous aspect of this whole matter is
the "peace on earth" stuff. These people have had
their "head in the sand" so long that they can parrot
the phrase without batting an eyelash. The only time
of the year that Vietnam gets second page is when Santa
Claus comes to town. Of course, they forget this
"peace on earth" after the first of the year and it
rarely crosses through their minds again 'till next
December. Anyway, it's hilarious that they can keep
a straight face when they talk of peace.
At the moment, I haven't thought of much we can do
about their "much ado." I would hope that those of us
who conscientiously object would work quietly toward
moving the celebration from December to July. The
seasonal heat will inhibit many of the celebrants; and
vacations will hopefully be detrimental to their uni
fication. The next step would be to do away with the
celebration altogether. The only real potential danger
of this is the possibility, however slight, that the
people would gain an insight into the real significance
of a Savior's birth. If this prompted them to be chari
table and loving 52 weeks of the year, I doubt that we
could stand it... Scrooge.