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 May  30, 2012 
To  my SETMA Colleagues: 
Today,  Mrs. Holly and I leave for Ireland for 11 days.  We will be accompanied by  our two oldest grandchildren, Beau and Hannah.  Truly life is  bitter-sweet.  The sweetness is that I remember vividly the day I held  both of these children in my arms at their births, as I did their six sisters and  cousins.  I remember sitting alone with them when they were infants and  telling them of my hopes and dreams for them, and of my prayers for them.   I remember eagerly anticipating their first words, as their voices are so sweet  having the texture and taste of nectar and honey.  As Beau prepares for  Texas A&M, 51 years after I entered the same school, he does so with his  character and values formed and with his health and hope in tact.  His  sister who is two years younger is benefiting from Beau’s “senior trip,” and  she is equally as wonderful as her brother. 
As  I think about these precious children, I remember their attendance at SETMA’s  open house at 2929 Calder in 1996, almost a year after SETMA’s founding August  1, 1995.  They were so young then, and they still are in the context of my  life.  I look at their pictures on my desk when they were three and almost  one.  As they grew, SETMA grew and today, all three are fine examples of  what can be accomplished when faith, family and friends take preeminence over  finances and fortune. 
As  we prepare to leave in a couple of hours, the sweet does not sour but it is  accompany by the sadness of leaving.  I am not a tourist and I am not  drawn to “seeing” things.  I leave with gratitude for the work of each of  you who make it possible for me to me to go.  I leave with the realization  that however long and extended my career may be, it is in the last half at the  very least.  I leave with the gratitude to God for the opportunity for  doing something which is in my mind and heart extremely valuable.  For all  of those who wish to live a life of significance, engaged in a noble task, in  my own mind, I have been given the greatest such opportunity and I am deeply  grateful for it.  I cannot imagine doing anything but what we are  doing.  Soon to be seventeen years and not long after that we will have  been at this for twenty-five years, I could not have designed a better life  than what we are all now living. 
No  matter what role we fill or what title we hold, we are all a team which could  not work well without each one of us.  Individual achievement may bring  glory but team work brings great satisfaction and fulfillment.  To  contribute to the success of others and to be given the opportunity by them for  your own success is a gift which is unmatched by personal laurels. 
As  I go, I eagerly await the return for the richness of the path which leads you  to adventure and excitement is greatest as it is the path which returns you  home.  As I leave, my prayers and thoughts are of each of you.  SETMA  is more than a name registered with the Texas Secretary of State.  It is  more than a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).  It is more than a  multi-specialty clinic.  SETMA is a vehicle through which each of us has  the opportunity to express our person and through which each of us can use our  personal gifts to package a larger present for Southeast Texas and indeed for  the world. 
Whether  caring for those with nothing or for those who seemingly have everything; whether comforting those who are in the twilight  of their life or encouraging those who are racing forward with vigor, SETMA  has, in my judgment passed the moral test voiced by Senator Hubert Humphrey in  1977.  The words of that test are memorialized in the entry to the office  of the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  It states: 
 “The moral test of a government (as well  as of a medical practice) is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life,  the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the  shadow of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped." 
 
It is my assessment that SETMA has and is  passing that “moral test,” which is much more valuable than power, prestige and  profit.  Thank you for being a part of SETMA and thank you for the time  for me to be with my family.  I already look forward to being back.   |