"Ask not what your society can do for you, ask what you can do for your society", sets the theme of my remarks today. As some of you may recall, this theme is a paraphrase from "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." These stirring words are not only traceable to a famous son of a famous physician, namely Oliver Wendel Holmes,Jr., the Supreme Court Justice, but to Kahlil Gabran the philosopher author,as were later used again by President John F. Kennedy in one of his addresses to the nation in one his State of the Union Address.

Happily for you I hope my remarks will be brief and to the point. Perhaps not quite as laconic, and certainly not as poignant as those of another Presidential speech namely the Gettysburg Address.

My message is not only addressed to all members of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, of whom I'm proud to be serving as your presiding officer, but they are particularly aimed at the younger members of our society, for after all, in the long run and in time, it is they who will stand to benefit the most.