Paradocs

          There’s a new doc in the Thompson household. My elder son, Josiah, earned his DPT—Doctorate in Physical Therapy—on April 26, 2025, with high honors. He completed three years of training with a 4.0 GPA and labored as the primary author of his research project on surgical outcomes in severe scoliosis. According to his professors, he asked the most insightful questions, served his classmates with distinction, and established the most aggressive career development plan they had ever seen. He exerted himself maximally; now, his job opportunities abound. Well done, my son!
          I recall graduating from college in 1991 with similar accolades, research involvement, and an extra degree. My father said upon my graduation, “That was nothing, just the start of bigger things to come.” All I heard, unfortunately, was, “That was nothing.” Most likely, he didn’t express himself as intended; regardless, the essence of his message escaped me. My father pushed me hard with his high expectations; I guarded myself against his constant pressure.
          The night before Josiah’s graduation, my wife and I prayed that God would make his celebrated milestone “just the beginning” of a vast, wonderful future. Thus history repeated itself. My son became like me—even surpassing me—in his academic excellence, while I became my father as I hoped Josiah’s graduation would become just his new starting point. Finally, I understand what my father once meant to say.
          Two doctors now reside under one roof, a father and a son, a pair of docs. Hopefully, the younger will become wiser than the older. When Josiah has protégées under his influence pursuing advanced degrees, no doubt he will root for their successes to eclipse his own.
          How we labor to pass to others our greatest strengths! How we hope to avoid transmitting our foibles. But here’s the paradox that screams for Solomon: our excellence and failings often erupt from the same artesian well. The prime illustration from my life—the drive to “succeed” or at least press on to my maximum capability—is one of my most reliable attributes, but sometimes that same resolve becomes my gravest weakness. Fortitude turns on me like a serpent: I don’t know when to stop. Do these same tenacious waters flow through my son’s veins? At Josiah’s graduation, I recognized in him a determination nearly identical to my own. The festivities flipped me backward thirty-five years, then forward into the tomorrows I may never know.
          Congratulations, Son, on your supreme scholarship. I’m proud of you. Earnestly I desire your ongoing success, not only in stellar academics, but also in emotional poise, relational equilibrium, and spiritual tranquility. If you continue in your explosive intellectual growth, all the while transmitting to others with humility the best that you have, then you will live with Joy. You will walk in Peace. This is what I know about Love: those who freely give will freely receive. What a paradox.

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