Cherish the Past, Prepare for the Future.

I t has truly been a privilege and a wonderful honor to serve as president of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons this past year. I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you here in attendance today, and to everyone who supported my presidency year. I am sincerely grateful to our three past presidents on the nominating committee: Dr. Rick Billingham, Dr. David Schoetz, and Dr. Bruce Wolff, as well as to all of you who endorsed my nomination. This is the pinnacle of my career. I also appreciate the hard work and outstanding effort of the Executive Council in helping me through this year; and the Society’s administrative staff which, for many years, has efficiently organized and maintained our society at such a high level. And I am extremely grateful to my colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering for their enduring support. They are an outstanding group of surgeons, and it is an honor for me to work with them. I would also like to thank my former colleagues from Minnesota who initially trained and mentored me, and set my career on the right pathVas opposed to the ‘‘Wong path’’ to which I am accustomed! Finally, there are two ladies I have relied on most during this past year. Stella Zedalis, Associate Executive Director of our Society, is a remarkable individual: extraordinarily efficient, well-organized, and personable; I know that all of our presidents have relied on her for support. And of course, my dear wife Sola; she has been my guiding light throughout our married life and throughout my entire career. She did a marvelous job of raising our three wonderful children while I worked long hours. During those early years I never thought that I had the potential to rise to the position in which I find myself today. But she did, and always encouraged me to do my very best. Without her influence and loving support I would not be standing here. The title of my talk is ‘‘Cherish the Past, Prepare for the Future’’. To set the stage, I would like to share a quote from the personal development expert Chuck Gallozzi, who has stated that ‘‘The secret of life is to do your best now. When we live by this rule, we guarantee a happy past and a successful future. We need to make the most of the past, not get distracted by the past, but learn from it. Cherish the past, learn, let go of it, and move on. Use the past as a guiding light.’’ As Ivern Ball has stated, ‘‘The past should be a springboard, not a hammock!’’ It is the future that provides promise and potential. Life is about endless growth. One of our tasks in life is to prepare for the future, make plans, and boldly take on the challenges that lie ahead. Well, one of the major challenges I have taken on over the years has been to give quite a large number of talks and lectures nationally and internationally, including this presidential address. So I’d like to share a story with