“You Are Atticus”
By Leigh Parker
Response of a dear friend to my retirement.
I remember Atticus
Doc,
I just heard of the news of your pending retirement. While the timing is inconceivable to me, I am confident that your decision is another act of sacrificial love for SETMA. The bonus is that you get to redeem those five or so years you had planned to stay at SETMA and exchange them for an early start to the decades of adventure you get to share with your wonderful bride and those grandchildren.
I've known you for 40 years. Regardless of the situation or the person, you never chose the easy path of least resistance. You were called to do the unpleasant things. Your callings in ministry and in medicine compelled you to navigate terrain that most refrain from traveling:
I remember your conviction to bring a bus load of poor people and minorities into your house of worship in the 1970s and early 1980s.
After 9/11. in the midst of fear, I remember your public stand in the newspaper to defend your colleagues and friends of the Islamic faith.
You raised issues and provided accountability in the Southern Baptist Convention in areas that would have happily remained untouchable by everyone else.
You challenged (and likely infuriated) some of your colleagues across the nation about the necessity of electronic medical records and why it was no longer a prudent medical practice to rely upon paper documentation.
I remember your deep friendships with people suffering from AIDs and those about to spend many years in prison.
And, I know of only a fraction of the times where you, in secret, freely gave away your time, your treasure, and medical expertise to those who would never be able to return the blessing.
I gave you the following literary reference on your 50th Wedding Anniversary to Mrs. Holly, but it seems more appropriate now than ever. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finch children are brought into the home of their elderly neighbor, Miss Maudie. Atticus Finch has inevitably lost the trial of Tom Robinson, and faces some isolation and certain backlash from his town.
"As we ate, we sensed that this was Miss Maudie’s way of saying that as far as she was concerned, nothing had changed. She sat quietly in a kitchen chair, watching us. Suddenly she spoke: “Don’t fret, Jem. Things are never as bad as they seem.”
Indoors, when Miss Maudie wanted to say something lengthy she spread her fingers on her knees and settled her bridgework. This she did, and we waited.
“I simply want to tell you that there are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father’s one of them.”
***
“We’re the safest folks in the world,” said Miss Maudie. “We’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we’ve got men like Atticus to go for us.”
I often wondered why a self professed shoe-less poor boy, who walked dirt roads in Louisiana, would not simply take the easier paved road of success and embrace the crowds and the love of the masses by going along to get along.
It is simple, really. You love people enough to help them by espousing truth, despite the loneliness or the pain it inflicts upon you.
Doc, you are Atticus Finch--- You simply exchanged a brief case for a medical bag. Go enjoy your next calling. We love you
Leigh
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