I became a man on May 12, 2005. There was no pomp and circumstances, no party. My initiation into manhood was telling the medical staff to withdraw life support for my father. No one else in my family was up to it, so I had to step up - he had suffered enough. My dad was 51 when he died from cancer, I was in my first year of medical school at age 25. It wasn't supposed to be like this.
He was a doc himself, my namesake, my hero, my best friend. I was his clone in so many ways. There was much I had left to learn from him. Now I had to step up to fill the void he left in this world, to help my family through his loss and have him live on through the life he gave me.
His kindness, generosity, hard-work, easy going personality and goofy sense of humor were but some of the traits I picked up from him and cherish. To treat individuals with respect, to do the right thing, to give myself to others well before myself were the unbending principles that I learned and strive to model for my own kids. I embrace learning new things to help me to continue to grow everyday to be the best man that I can be for our society and especially for my family. My mission and responsibility as a man and as a father is for my own children to love and learn from me as I did from my dad, and that my children will grow to be worthy men and women to pass on the values and life lessons that will endure and make this world a good place to live for generations to come.
~Dave Lobur
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