Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings April 2017 - 243

Figure 3. With my childhood baseball hero and long-time patient, Hank Aaron.

One especially memorable hero I got to meet was Sir Roger
Bannister, the ﬁrst to break the 4-minute barrier in the mile run.
I wanted to talk with Dr. Bannister (a noted neurologist) about
his memorable run. Instead, he wanted to focus on me-what
I did, my family and special interests. Unlike some heroes, he
had the ability to focus on others, rather than only on himself.
I was fortunate to have done my cardiology fellowship under Gene Braunwald and J. Willis Hurst, both larger-than-life
heroic ﬁgures, masterful teachers, both editors of major cardiology textbooks. Dr. Hurst continued to teach until his death at
90. Dr. Braunwald, in his mid-80s, remains vitally involved in
research projects, lectures, and writing. Ken Cooper (Figure 4)
a long-time friend, continues to be an inspiration, also in his
mid-80s. He has done more to motivate children and adults to
be physically ﬁt than any single person I know.
The very deﬁnition of heroes needs careful attention. Some
sports superstars I have known are much less heroic to me
than are some seemingly ordinary patients I have encountered
through the years. Victor Hugo once observed, "Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battleﬁelds which
have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the
illustrious heroes." As Clif Cleaveland writes in his book, Healers
and Heroes, we need "to look anew at the 'ordinary' people who
surround us on a daily basis." In them, he points out, you are
"likely to ﬁnd your own heroes who deﬁne the very essence of
humanity and good" (9).
MARRIAGE
Greg Maddux once said about pitching that "it ain't always
as easy as it might appear." The same can be said about a marriage. Fifty-two years after my wedding day, I don't have all the
answers (as I'm still learning), but as Robert Frost said, "I do
know the questions."
Our children gave us a family trip to celebrate our golden anniversary. We were told only that the destination was within 10 hours
April 2017

Figure 4. Ken Cooper, MD, whose picture in my office is a constant reminder of
the importance of preventive cardiology and of lifelong physical fitness.

of Atlanta. A week before our departure, our six grandchildren
organized a scavenger hunt for my wife and me. The ﬁnal clue was
a brochure to lovely little St. Simon's Island, where we celebrated
amid the beauty of nature, devoid of social media and television.
I am sometimes asked what makes a successful marriage.
I would list the following answers.
1. Realize that our concept of love evolves over time. Some
people, especially around middle age, get divorced because their
love doesn't seem like it once was. Tolstoy wrote, however, that
"each time of life has its own kind of love." I have an elderly
woman patient, severely crippled with arthritis. Her husband
always comes with her and attends to her needs. I'm sure their
relationship is diﬀerent than it once was. I'm also sure that their
love is deeper than it has ever been.
2. Have a mutual trust in God. Things might occur in a marriage that are diﬃcult to resolve, given human imperfections.
By trusting in a higher power and following biblical guidelines,
one can successfully negotiate the mineﬁelds of life.
3. Aﬀair-proof your marriage. An elderly minister once
advised the young Billy Graham to avoid three big pitfalls:
problems with money, sex, and pride. Regarding sex, he advised
Graham to avoid "any one-on-one encounters with a person of
the opposite sex, to both remove temptation and the threat of a
perceived impropriety." A certain president might have beneﬁted
from such an approach. Remember to be true to yourself and
that guilt can do a number on you. In the movie City Slickers,
Billy Crystal's friend is giving him various scenarios for an aﬀair,
only to be rejected. Finally, he proposes that a spaceship appears
and a beautiful woman beckons him, after which the spaceship

From my little black notebook: lessons for young physicians and medical students

243

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings April 2017