Words of Wisdom to the Class of 2020 from Your Alumni Community

To The graduating class of 2020:This was supposed to be your year. Our year. The Year of Vision. The Year of the Optometrist. Instead, we got the Year of the Pandemic, the Year of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Perhaps with time we will look back and have a new name for this annus horribilis, but for now, I’m not going to sugar coat it, and while it’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened in my life, it is certainly the most difficult moment of my 30 year career.When I graduated SUNY in 1993, Dr. Haffner congratulated me and gave me some words of advice. I have carried them with me ever since. He said, “You will now proudly wear the title of DOC- TOR. Congratulations. It carries with it a heavy burden. Forevermore you will be a beacon in your community, an example to your patients, a role model to your colleagues, a leader in your nation.”30 years later, having worked hard and established my very own, successful practice, just at the moment when I thought I could start to relax and reap the fruits of my labor, well you know what happened. But putting aside the obvious difficulties: the fact that I have lost several patients to COVID-19, the fact that my savings have been decimated, the fact that I cannot see my aging parents or visit with my little niece, the fact that my children are losing a year of college and graduate school, and of course the constant worry and stress of an uncertain future, I want to share with you something that I learned and continue to learn from this experience. This year, more than ever in my life, I have learned the true meaning of the word essential. When push came to shove, I learned who and what was essential in my life. I saw who came to my aid without my asking. Of course, it was my family, I expected that. But what I did not anticipate was the outpour- ing of support from my patients. Instead of my calling them to see how they fared (as of course I did), they started calling and emailing ME! Some sent cards. Some sent flowers. Some shared music and poetry. I did not expect the constant stream of support from my colleagues. Some called me to see if I had PPE. Classmates called me to offer moral support. Officers of my state and local association called to help me apply for loans. The AOA helped me sort out my malpractice insurance. It went on and on. One of my colleagues even enclosed an envelope with cash in a package of cookies sent to another colleague who had been furloughed. Several ophthalmologists, pediatricians, and GPs, with whom I had established referral relationships over the years, called to check on me and my practice. They asked when I planned to reopen because they wanted to send patients my way. In a very dark time, that title of DOCTOR, brought me a glimmer of hope, created a beam of light to guide my way forward. It made me essential. So Class of 2020, I’d like to leave you with this thought: This is your year. This is the year your profession realized it was truly essential. The year that we all learned how essential our professional associations are to our wellbeing. How essential our patients, and the work we do for them, is to our mental health. I will think of it not as the Annus Horribilis, but rather, as the Annus Mirabilis. After all, the original “Annus Mirabilis” or Year of Miracles, in 1666, followed the original Annus Horribilis of 1665 when Europe suffered the Plague. It was the year that Cambridge University shut down to control contagion and forced the 23-year-old Isaac Newton to return home with nothing to do. He called that period of his life his most fruitful and creative. It was the year he verified the composite nature of light. I look forward to seeing your names in the years to come, to seeing what you will invent and what you will accomplish, and to seeing how you will wear your title of, “Doctor.” Viola Kanevsky, 1993