How I Learned about America the Beautiful
Society of Pediatric Radiologists 1994
“America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.”
—Katherine Lee Bates
Sometimes we have a patriotic hymn sing-along at church before major holidays such as the Fourth of July. One of my favorites is the music set to Katherine Lee Bates’s poem, “America the Beautiful.” “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain.” Bates wrote the hymn after arriving in a prairie wagon atop 14,000-foot Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs in the summer of 1893.
I connected with the poem and the hymn while helping plan a pediatric radiology meeting in nearby Colorado Springs in 1994. I took a six-month sabbatical from Children’s Hospital to prepare for the international pediatric radiology meeting. I received much help from people all over the world, but I also had a touch of what Parker Palmer calls “functional atheism,” believing I was the “only” one who needed to do most of the work.
After a year of planning, everything was finally ready. I vividly remember sitting in a board meeting at the event hotel in May, just before the conference began. I looked out the wide bay window and, to my horror, saw the last snow of the winter falling in May! I had meticulously planned a multitude of outdoor activities that would now never see the light of day. I now keep a beautiful picture of snow on the tulips in front of the hotel to remind me how little I can control in life.
Society of Pediatric Radioloigists 1994
There were a multitude of other hiccups. We recorded speakers for a video of the meeting. One speaker did not like his recording and required us to redo his filming at least five times. I will always be indebted to Marilyn Goske, whom I had casually asked to watch over the speakers’ video. She patiently stayed with the speakers and missed the entire meeting to complete this task.
Another hiccup came during our evening entertainment after dinner. We had scheduled the Air Force Academy Cadet Choir, but without warning they were called to maneuvers. Our meeting planner booked a local children’s chorus. I worried it would be amateurish and poorly performed. But, as you might expect, they were the most charming, talented, and poised children performers I have ever seen. They ended their concert by approaching individual members of the highly educated, sophisticated audience, holding their hands, and singing directly to them. We all gave them a standing ovation through our tears, remembering that the children we serve as physicians can teach us so much about life and the beauty of America, as expressed in “America the Beautiful.”
Another lagniappe at the meeting. Two pediatric radiologists, who lived on different continents apart, decided to get married at the meeting. Overnight, our meeting planner arranged a beautiful ceremony for them. To date, there has never been another wedding at that annual meeting!
I also learned from this meeting that, no matter how hard I try, I am not in charge, and that God provides me with fantastic people around me who will take over in overwhelming situations. I especially learned at dinner that when a door unexpectedly closes, the next door that opens is often surprisingly magnificent.
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/