Parting Thoughts
At a 50 th anniversary celebration for two dear friends, I remember telling a man I had just met that my husband and I worked at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He told me a story about working in the Middle East where on one occasion he found himself so far out in the desert that he was sure he could not find his way back to his lodgings in the city. A man from a local Bedouin tribe came to his aid and on the trip back asked where he was from in the U.S. He told him he had grown up in Baltimore and was greeted with a blank stare. He told the man it was near Washington DC. The man understood that he lived near the White House. He said “No, but its near there.” Another blank stare. He didn’t think The Baltimore Ravens or Orioles would strike a note with someone who seemed to live so far removed from our “modern world.” In desperation and with a shrug he said, “Johns Hopkins Hospital is there.” In this most remote corner of the world, the man’s face lit up. “Oh! Johns Hopkins.