The Goodness We Create (A New Year’s Message)

If I were an amputee…my prayer would not be to restore my leg but to help me make the best of my condition, and to be thankful for life and opportunities to be a blessing to others.

-Jimmy Carter

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year. May goodness come to us all in 2025, but if it fails to come on its own, let’s create goodness ourselves.

Good years aren’t bequeathed to us like gifts beneath a tree. We create goodness by using our imagination and dedication. We grow as physicians by seeking knowledge and experience. We heal patients by applying our skill and compassion.

In our fractious world, let’s create harmony. If we confront rancor, let’s respond with kindness. If we encounter setbacks, let’s respond with determination. If we face cynicism let’s respond with hope.

Let’s create a good year. Let’s fill 2025 with abundant learning, good health, happiness, and peace.

Enjoy New Year’s Day, everyone. This morning, we’ll be driving home from Montreal, arriving in Connecticut by evening. See you tomorrow!

Mark

P.S. What I’m reading:

• What to expect when you have expectations By Anne Lamott
• Jimmy Carter, On Death By Rick Rojas
• The Most Important Breakthroughs of 2024 By Derek Thompson
• Focus on the Things That Matter By Jennifer Senior
• How to Go Back in Time By John Searles

P.P.S. Hopes and wishes from our residency community:

• In 2025, I hope to pay it forward. There is so much to be thankful for in my life, and I hope to channel that positive energy every time I show up for work for our patients and every moment I get to spend with my family. (Ben Keepers, PGY1)
• I’m hoping our residents and we can carry the torch of humane and ethically upright spirit in 2025 and beyond so that we can harness and guide non-human intelligence with an ethical compass, see our patients beyond their disease, commune with our colleagues without prejudice and judgment, and open our hearts and creativity to care despite restrictions that the coming years may impose. It’s a prayer and a resolve woven together. (Shaili Gupta, APD)
• Despite the multiple forces that seem misaligned right now, I must continue to hope for more peace and calm and less conflict and chaos in our world.(Laura Morrison, Palliative Medicine)
• Dear 2025, Can we have a year without wars, school shootings or any other type of violence, please? I want 2025 to be more peaceful. I want more kindness in this world. (Zeynep Zengin, PGY2)
• My hope is for a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year for everyone. (Justin Dower, PGY3)
• I hope for more understanding and calm in times of uncertainty or discord in our world and that we embrace each other more with the shared thread of our common experience. (Jacqueline Savage, APD)
• In 2025, I hope for good health, prosperity for my friends, family, and colleagues, and continued growth both personally and professionally in this next chapter of life. (Soumya Banna, Chief Resident)
• May 2025 bring humanity to stand united in pursuing lasting peace across all borders. (Bahar Ardestani, PGY1)
• There are many things that I hope for in 2025 but the top of my list is a safe birth process for my wife and the baby that we are expecting. She’s due in two weeksand I can't wait to meet the new human that we are welcoming into the world. Other things I'm hoping for: Continued growth as a physician. Learning more and more each day! Continuing to see the growth of the interns. I'm excited for the time of the year where it feels like there are truly two seniors on the team. Another New England summer and journeys up the coast! Can't wait to get back to some nature :) (Charlie Marvil, PGY2)
• To re incorporate dancing or any other physical activity into my everyday routine! Have an amazing New Year’s Eve and a 2025 full of love and happiness. (Luis Meza Contreras, PGY2)
• Hoping everyone can find moments of peace — and remember to breathe 🙏🏾 (Sud Perera, PGY1)
• Wishing everyone a year filled with growth, resilience, and abundant joy! (Jasmine Saini, PGY1)
• In 2025, I hope to grow as a clinician and person, embracing the challenges and joys of residency. I want to prioritize wellness, nurture meaningful habits, and be present for my loved ones. I hope to prove to myself that I can have a positive impact on my patients and the community around me. (Srikar Tallavajhala, PGY1)
• In 2025, I am hoping for our leaders to prioritize peace over ego, evidence over misinformation, and discussion over division. I am hoping for a smooth transition to fellowship and lots of learning! I am hoping that our residents know we are there for them and for a good end to the year as chiefs. I am also hoping for a yard for Franklin, more reading of books, and great meals and travel with Ben! (Mary White, Chief Resident)
• I wish for warmth and struggle. For the calid embrace of the unknown and the caress of the damp rocks that line the sheer cliff-faces; to scrape my knee as I fall on a ground of posies as the rock on the hill tumbles down: downward, ever-downward. To grasp at the green light with the yolks of fingers-burned and with pale forehead and rosy cheeks. And, above all else, for lungs to fill with air-so-sweet after being filled to the brim. (Bobby Lapetina Arroyo, PGY1)
• For me, I hope this year brings more precious time with loved ones, more moments of light even in darkness, the strength to tackle all challenges - big or small, and the drive to learn more Spanish! (Kanika Sehgal, PGY3)
• In 2025, I hope for a kinder and more inclusive world, where understanding and compassion guide our actions, where leaders (here and back home) foster unity instead of division, and where suffering is alleviated—both in the patients we care for and in communities around the globe. (Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed, PGY2)
• For 2025, my advice (and personal goals) is to spend more time with those that mean so much to us and to be more present and intentional in our everyday lives. (Joshua Rusheen, Chief Resident)
• My hope for 2025 is made of a lot of things I used to take for granted: peace, peace of mind, and good health of loved ones. (Renée Saliby, PGY1)
• I’m hoping for peace in the new year. (Tamar Kaminski, PGY1)
• My hope for 2025 is for my family to be healthy and happy, and to make the most of each day as I continue my training journey. (Anthos Christofides, PGY3)
• In all schools of thought Hope is regarded as not only a necessary but mandatory prerequisite for salvation (however each schools defines “salvation”). It is a MUST for human growth and transcendence. Four of the major schools of thought/belief (in historic order, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam) have referred to it the sine qua non element of enlightenment. In Judaism, tikkun olam, or the duty to repair the world through ethical action and social justice, requires confident hope in the possibility of a better world. The Buddha’s teaching emphasize that there is no freedom from the cycles of delusion and suffering without hope and certitude in achieving nirvana. Christian doctrine is built on the three pillars of hope, love and faith, among which hope the most necessary. Islam emphasizes hope as the indispensable element of human growth, and abandonment of hope (ya’as) is the only unforgivable cardinal sin. The centrality of hope in such diverse and varied human faiths must be the greatest reminder to all of us in our darkest moments: what would be left of our humanity, without hope? (Tina Saber, PGY3)