Abstract
“If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), from Boswell J. Life of Johnson. 1 Volume ii, Chapter ii; 1755.
I was just settling down in front of my computer when an e-mail alert appeared on the monitor. Intrigued by the subject line, I clicked to open the message. The document expanded to fill the screen and in the process filled my morning with the warm glow of friendship. “Happy Friends Day for all!!! (Feliz dia del amigo!),” I read. “I don't know if in USA you celebrate this day, but here in Argentina, it is a very special day … and night with a lot of parties. Take care. Facundo Gigante, Buenos Aires, Argentina.”
Friends Day sounded like a great idea. I prodded Facundo for more information and was surprised to learn that the celebration in fact had a strong link to the United States. The motivation for Friends Day came from an Argentine dentist, Dr Enrique Febbraro, who was inspired by the landing of 3 American astronauts on the moon on July 20, 1969. Many Americans undoubtedly viewed this achievement as a testimony to the capabilities of American technology, although Neil Armstrong credited all humanity when he memorialized it as “one giant leap for mankind.” Dr Febbraro certainly agreed that this milestone represented the culmination of the efforts of individuals from many nations, an accomplishment that all citizens of earth could view with pride. He envisioned a world in which people of different ideologies, beliefs, and races would unite to work toward common goals, pressing outward to other galaxies and even other sentient species.
The Space Age had begun just over a decade earlier, when the Soviet Union announced the launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957. Ironically, this achievement was not generally perceived as the first step toward universal peace and friendship but as the opening volley in a new round of the Cold War. In those early years, each scientific triumph was promoted as evidence of the superiority of a particular ideology or economic system. “The present generation will witness how the freed and conscious labor of the people of the new socialist society turns even the most daring of mankind's dreams into reality,” crowed a press release from the Sputnik era. 1 Aside from some visionaries like Dr Febbraro, few people at the time would have foreseen that 50 years later, an orbiting space station would draw its crew from 13 different nations.
Some unorthodox futurists, however, thought that outer space was just the place to focus a unified human effort. Albert K. Bender, reputed originator of the “Men in Black” legend and director of the International Flying Saucer Bureau, proclaimed March 15, 1953 as World Contact Day. On that day, all true believers were to attempt to communicate telepathically with any extraterrestrials that happened to be in the neighborhood by simultaneously concentrating on a text that began with the phrase, “calling occupants of interplanetary craft.” Over 2 decades later, this mantra would become the title of a song dubbed “the recognized anthem of World Contact Day,” released in 1976 by the Canadian rock group Klaatu and covered the next year by The Carpenters. 3
International friendship and cooperation play a big role in orthopaedic sports medicine as well, although surgeons usually eschew telepathy for more conventional forms of communication. Personal and ethnic pride are important motivators for all human achievement, of course, so that every small advancement by clinicians or laboratory researchers brings them personal credit that is shared by their institutions and national and regional professional organizations. In medicine, however, we do not hoard our secrets; instead, we augment our personal glory by disseminating our knowledge to colleagues near and far. Medical journals and open meetings facilitate the international sharing of each new discovery. By this mechanism, each small step by man or woman becomes a small step for all humankind.
Although I have never been to Argentina, I am honored to call Facundo a friend through our mutual affiliations with the international orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship program. This system, which began as a bilateral undertaking between the AOSSM and the European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA), has grown into a round-robin event that includes exchanges between AOSSM, ESSKA 2000, the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (APOA), and the Sociedad Latinoamericana de Artroscopia, Rodilla y Traumatologia Deportiva (SLARD) and connects orthopaedic surgeons from 5 continents. An individual may be drawn into this international network as a fellow, a “godfather,” or a host. Each of these roles normally brings a participant into direct contact with only 1 of the other sponsoring organizations. Once a surgeon enters the fellowship network, however, the rules of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon are activated. (Variously described as a sociological theory or an academic urban myth, the principle of 6 degrees of separation, as it is more generally known, holds that any person is related to any other individual via a short chain of mutual friends or contacts.) Through meetings of the Magellan Society, receptions at international conferences, or subsequent service as a host, each fellow quickly becomes linked to all other program affiliates throughout a worldwide web.
I personally have been privileged to be connected to the traveling fellowship in all 3 ways—first as a fellow, later as a host, and most recently as the “godfather” for the AOSSM delegation to the APOA. On this tour through 5 Asian countries, Bruce Miller, Jim O'Holleran, Matt Provencher, and I watched and learned as master surgeons demonstrated creative solutions to difficult surgical problems and stimulated our intellects with their original scientific presentations. In between, we feasted on a cornucopia of Asian delicacies and tried to absorb as much knowledge as possible about the architecture, music, and customs of our host countries. Most importantly, we were able to connect with our hosts on a personal level. We quickly perceived the enormous amount of commonality that we all shared, whether that meant an affinity for technical creativity and scientific innovation, an appreciation for interesting flavors and forms, a concern for the welfare of our patients, or a love for our families.
The quintessence of this experience was captured in an event that occurred in Seoul, our last stop on the tour, when we were united with a number of our hosts to confront the challenge of karaoke. Although “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” was not an option on the karaoke menu, the evening had nevertheless been filled with a remarkable series of solos. As the session drew to a close, 12 orthopaedic surgeons from 4 countries spontaneously locked arms and swayed to the music while crooning an anthem to universal understanding and cooperation, “We Are the World.” 2 Although the calendar did not read July 20th, a month-long process of learning and sharing had culminated in an uninhibited celebration of Friends Day.
