From the President

By Mike Horsfield, PT, MBA

Dear Roy G Biv,

Long-time admirer. First-time writer.

Some of my favorite childhood memories include you, storm clouds, a front porch and my dad. The anticipation of your curtain call brought great comfort to those exciting and unsettling moments. Recognizing that awe-inspiring beauty often resides on the other side of darkness has been a lasting life lesson. Helping us to embrace the uncertainty inevitable when the horizon blackens for the reward that often follows.

Like you, the true colors of our wonderful profession also shine brightest and provide comfort during the darkest times. People recovering from polio and soldiers rehabbing from World War I were the earliest to experience this brilliance. More recently, APTA’s 18 Sections, 51 Chapters and our Private Practice friends were magnificent in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our tribal clarifiers denoting niche, specialization, size of practice, type of practice faded. Leaving only the initials that unite us — PT. Never before has the pot of gold at the end of the “better together” rainbow of possibilities been clearer. And then, our skies began to clear…

So, while your arc of refracted beauty is brilliant, it is not the reason for me reaching out. My curiosity lies in understanding how you are able to re-unite your colors when the storm passes. How do you get them to give up the spotlight and become selflessly invisible? How do they embrace that the beauty of their nanometers of differences pale in comparison to their collective power? Together, creating the bright light that enables all life to flourish. Your leadership in creating an abundant mindset and selfless focus on mission in the absence of a crisis is inspiring. How may our profession use our differences to create lift rather than turbulence? How might we use the opportunity of blue skies vs fear to galvanize our diverse perspectives? Like you, so many could use the bright light that is our profession, and we must find a better way to get more exposure — no matter the color of the skies.

Thanks again, Roy, for being so comforting and inspiring. Really looking forward to your insight on how your lessons learned can be helpful to our profession and thereby to the people we serve.

Together… And Only Together… We Got This!

P.S. One more thing — can you please talk this creative Impact Editorial Board out of using your inspiration for monthly themes next year?