by Roberto
A little over fifteen years ago, in a post he called "On Being 80," Elio celebrated his 80th birthday by sharing his life experience of melding his love of bacteria at the bench with his love of hunting mushrooms in the wild. "It is true that biology is biology, in the sense that the basic question is always the same — What is life? — but at the level at which we participate in the profession of biology there are marked differences in attitude between those who study living things in the field and those who work in laboratories." Over the ensuing years and through the eclectic collection of topics he covered in this blog, Elio proved over and over that such marked differences in attitude can be overcome if only one sets one's mind to the task.
I may be premature in posting this reflection on my current age. I'm doing this a full decade before Elio did. Yet, I feel compelled to share this simple view. In biology the basic question is indeed always the same: What is life? For five of my seven decades, I have explored small parts of this question in laboratories and fields. Throughout this time, I have always been in the company of very special people. Together, we wondered at the molecules of life as we contemplated the interconnectedness of all of life. It seems I'm slowly learning that T. S. Eliot was right on the mark with these lines:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
It has been seven years since Elio invited me to join STC. This special opportunity has given me a sense of continued exploration that is helping me arrive at where I started, and know the place for the first time. What can I say now? Simple. As I turn seventy, I feel very fortunate to have had a lifetime of exploration and I am truly grateful to all who have accompanied me along the way.
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