Seven Random Facts

Bonnie and The Reveler "tagged" me, so here I am, offering seven random facts about myself. Here are the rules of the game for those I tagged.

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose four people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

I tag Angie, Walt, Sean, and everyone at Shazam Saipan. Here are my Seven Random Facts.

1. My goal this year is to have no goals. I’ve been working so hard for so long, one thing after another. It's been satisfying, but pretty arduous. This year is a conscious decision to get off the treadmill, to do things purely for fun, to spend time on friendships, and to play. Yipeeeee!

2. I consider myself one of the best (and humblest) eye surgeons in the world. But if I’d had the musical talent, I would have preferred to rock the world, Bruce Springsteen style. Last month I had my performing debut. I played the blues on stage, solo (yikes!), at Discotheque GIG. I totally sucked, but I was happy. So, I consider “Rock the World from a Stage” checked off my list. Next… Rock the World from a Coliseum.

3. When I was in high school at Lake Forest Academy, my best friend and I shattered a 150 year-old school tradition by stealing a chariot.

4. Mara and I met and fell in love in Pago Pago.

5. I grew up in a coal-mining town in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. There, before the era of “political correctness,” no one wanted to make the effort to learn the name of some foreign kid, so in the first grade the principal called the immigrant family into his office and told us that my name, the one my parents had given me when I was born, “just wouldn’t do in these parts. Pick another.” David is the name I picked.

6. I’m a practical idealist. I believe the paradigms that govern society and human relations have worked well for a long time, but are proving themselves woefully inadequate for an emerging global civilization. I see the accelerating turbulence in human society as the death pangs of the current defective order. Instead of trying to fix these dying paradigms, I work to help establish the foundations of the systems that I’m convinced will rise up and redefine our world over the next century. That's why I don't complain much or criticize the way things are. I'm a builder.

7. When I was finishing my training in ophthalmology, and was trying to decide what to do next, I walked into a bookshop next to the El station in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago. I saw a dusty book on the shelf called something like The Answer to Life’s Questions. “Perfect,” I thought. “That’s exactly what I need.” I opened it up and the page read, “Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life you will regret the things you did not do more than the things you did.” That was the deciding moment for me. That night I bought a plane ticket to the Pacific. That quote continues to run through my life.

There you have it. Seven random facts about me. It was a fun exercise.