Dr . Spruill ’ s acceptance speech :
Good evening . I want to thank you for this recognition and I want to thank you all for your service to our patients , our profession and our association .
Above all tonight , first I must thank my wonderful wife . She is the success catalyst in every aspect of our 41 years together . Now , in front of God and everyone here , I want to apologize to you , Sweetie , for not having been more sensitive to your needs when we had children at home and I was doing all that running around . I can ’ t make it up to you , but I ’ d sure like to try in the years to come .
Truly my friends , this should be a distinguished Lillian award because she made it possible . Honey , have I told you lately that I love you ?
Well , now that I ’ ve said the most important thing I could say this evening , let me touch on something else . Tonight is not about me . But hopefully , I can be encouraging to all of you and to others . When I was notified that I was the recipient of this award , I was actually surprised . Honestly , I had completely forgotten that my local had nominated me .
And I started thinking about “ Distinguished Service ”. What makes it distinguished ? What about a service that we provide is distinguishing ?
In Richard Rohr ’ s book “ Falling Upward ,” the Franciscan priest suggests that our lives are in two parts . When we are young , it ’ s about acquisition - we acquire an education , job skills , a family , we provide for our families , and in all of our cases , as small business women and men , we provide for our patients and employees too .
Where the first half of life is characterized by acquiring , the second half is about giving … and everyone goes through both phases . Unfortunately for some people , it is not until the end of their lives , when they give up their ghost . For most of us however , the giving is somewhere just after the middle of life .
I understand success is important ! It ’ s very important . You have to do well in order to do good . And while success is an important thing , it ’ s not the only thing .
Thomas Merton said , “ if I had a message to my contemporaries it would surely be this : be anything you like , be mad men , drunks , and bastards of every shape and form , but it all cases avoid one thing : success . If you ’ re too obsessed with success you will forget to live . If you have learned only how to be a success , your life …” will not be as full as it could be .
( Merton actually said , “ your life has probably been wasted .” A little too tough for a festive occasion like tonight )
Further , I love the rabbinical wisdom in the book of Proverbs and the prayer “ Lord make me a success , but not so much that I forget about You .”
As I said , that balance , that tipping point in life between getting and giving , happens near the end for some . For others , for many of you , it happens much earlier . As I look at the gathered friends here tonight , I ’ m thinking of my friend Gary Davis out there . Gary is just back from his 19th mission trip to Ecuador . And Gary is the driving force behind Mission of Mercy in Pennsylvania . Our sixth MOM is in Reading next month . Of course , I ’ d love to see all of you there in some capacity , on one or both days .
Speaking of MOM there ’ s President Bruce ( Terry ). It is absolutely amazing to see him coordinating the plumbing , electricity and the layout of a 55,000 square foot arena at each one of our MOMs .
And then there ’ s Jim Boyle ; four years ago together with many others , we successfully lobbied the Anesthesia bill into law . And just this last Tuesday , we , with the GRC Committee , had a legislative breakfast and then we all walked Capital Hill pushing SB 373 , our Assignment of Benefits legislation . By the way , if you haven ’ t called your State Representative yet please , please do . And if you are in Representative Tina Picket ’ s District , I want to talk to you personally and right now .
So , again let me thank you all . You all give in many forms ; your spouses too , or you wouldn ’ t be here , and I applaud all that you are doing , in your distinguished service .
A closing thought ; Rohr guides us with this . As we give more , serve more , we transform from a human being - passive and self focused , to a human doing - active and other focused . And the good news is , it ’ s a decision that you get to make . So where do you want to go ? Where are you going now ?
When a serving opportunity presents itself , instead of saying I could , I might , I can , I should , say
I will . And wherever you go , remember the words of the Dali Lama ,
Happiness is a journey , not a destination so Work like you don ’ t need money , Love like you ’ ve never been hurt and Dance like no one is looking .
Thank you for this extreme honor . Joy and peace be with you all .
Now and always , may the Lord go before you , behind you , and beside you , and until we meet again , may He hold you in the protective palm of His hand .
Thank you again . Good night .
22 JULY / AUGUST 2018 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL