I’ve been lucky. but also devoted to interests. Good genes. Good ordinary health maintenance. No cigarettes. No coffee. Ordinary exercise. Boil it down: have a good, serious goal to believe in, and work to it. That’s the key, I think: a set of values bigger than I, to conform to and to work for. Those values are not the whole story of life—just the backbone. You’ve heard details from everyone. My theme: find something bigger than yourself or your future to believe in, to serve, to be guided by. For me it was medicine, the demands of surgery, and finally in later years, faith in the power of love to make things whole.

just the backbone for life

IamA 93 Year Old Retired Surgeon, US Marine Corps Battalion Surgeon late in the Korean War, Playwright, and Author. I just finished my third novel; it’s about the crazy early days of transplant surgery. Ask me Anything! AMA! from IAmA

I’ve been lucky. but also devoted to interests. Good genes. Good ordinary health maintenance. No cigarettes. No coffee. Ordinary exercise. Boil it down: have a good, serious goal to believe in, and work to it. That’s the key, I think: a set of values bigger than I, to conform to and to work for. Those values are not the whole story of life—just the backbone. You’ve heard details from everyone. My theme: find something bigger than yourself or your future to believe in, to serve, to be guided by. For me it was medicine, the demands of surgery, and finally in later years, faith in the power of love to make things whole.just the backbone for life