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?