Fall 2001

A Year of Living Interestingly

Last year, I was on sabbatical in Argentina with my wife Eleanor and our daughter Jenni. Eleanor and I were visiting professors at the National University of La Plata, one of the nation's public universities, about forty miles from the sprawling capital city of Buenos Aires.

My work in Argentina was largely research and a demonstration project in collaboration with the Argentine Diabetes Society, funded by a three-year grant from the Eli Lilly Foundation. The key objective was to develop teams of non-physician diabetes coordinators to assist in the education and treatment of patients with diabetes, an area in which I have had particular professional and personal interest for many years. But I gleaned much from the experience beyond the sphere of science.

It was exciting to live in a foreign country, become immersed in its culture and learn another language. We came to love Argentina and its people; it was difficult to leave our friends there.

Our year in Argentina also had its sobering lessons. It is a country in which 30,000 people "disappeared" under repressive military dictatorships. There is scarcely a family in that country whose lives have not been touched by these and similar tragic events. I came to recognize that democracy is a process to be cherished and fought for daily.

The apartment my family and I stayed in overlooked a series of numbered streets and diagonal boulevards in downtown La Plata. From our window, we had front-row seats to the completion of what is reported to be the largest cathedral in the Western Hemisphere - a work-in-progress of nearly 130 years in the making. We watched with anticipation and fascination as the bell tower and bells were installed. When it was completed, the city celebrated with fireworks and an orchestra playing Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus.

Observing the final stages of the cathedral's construction put things in perspective for me: anything worthwhile and lasting takes planning, persistence and patience, whether it's a medical project, protecting fundamental human rights, or building a cathedral.

Charles M. Clark Jr., MD, is professor of medicine and of pharmacology/toxicology, and adjunct professor of public health at IUSM, and an investigator at the Regenstrief Institute for Health Care.