ANN OPHTHALMOL. 2003;35(1) 9

on our side since it partially blocks X-rays, gammarays, UV rays, and all other harmful rays.

Pollution is damaging the atmosphere, thus harm-ful rays are now passing much easier to the earth. Ifwe had little bumblebee eyes, perhaps we would bemore attentive to the plight of the atmosphere as the“bad” rays from space fall more frequently to earth.

Like the bumblebee, ophthalmologists must devel-op a special sense for the dangers that poise to destroyour profession. Medicine, in general, is now facingpressure of a world that is bursting with prejudice,hunger, and disease. And, the world looks to our pro-fession to heal it. But, physician can thy heal thyself?Our profession faces so many problems it is all butsuffocating. Often resources are so limited that onemissionary ophthalmologist once stated in despera-tion, “I feel like I’m to remove 100 cataracts a day witha single toothpick”. When I hear such despair, I feellike yelling out the chant from the movie “Platoon”:“Keep the gunpowder dry…”

Global resources are limited, but man has greatability to overcome because of our brain. However, inorder to be effective, a brain must be linked to a heartin order to flavor the intelligence with great compas-sion. Namely, our intelligence must be directed for thegood of mankind.

The Annals attempts to foster some small part infocusing the intellect of the brightest and best fromaround the world for the good of mankind. We do thisin our editorials, case reports, articles, and bookreviews. And, we try to be fair to all.

As for myself, I have an occasional bad day. Butwhen it happens, I now try to “keep the gunpowderdry.” I don’t know if I’ll ever be as savvy as the oldbumblebee, but I’m trying. It must be great to be abumblebee.

Richard J. Fugo, MD, PhDMedical Editor

When things go bad, they often fall apart quickly.Did you ever think about how many really bad

days you have each month? I watched Oliver Stone’sclassic movie “Platoon” last week and bad things werehappening all over the place. When it looked likethings couldn’t get worse, one of the soldiers warned,“Keep the gunpowder dry. There will be another fighttomorrow.”

Recently I got a call from my daughter, Jennifer,telling me that a car had just exploded a few doorsdown from her Brooklyn apartment and police andfirefighters were filling her street. Just great! Just thekind of visceral kick that I needed. By the way, thiswas after the New York City Twin Tower tragedy.

The very same day my other daughter, Nicole,called on her cell phone to tell me that her front tireexploded while driving. She was at least 150 milesfrom home on the highway in “God’s country”. Shedidn’t know exactly where she was and the sun wasbeginning to set. Just great! Another cause for mychest to tighten!

By the way, my surgeries for the day had been can-celed because of a phaco machine malfunction. Thenwhen I arrived for my evening research session at mylab, my good friend, Don McGrann, showed up andspent two hours telling me about his “rotten day.”From one bad thing to the next, I really didn’t have asingle constructive accomplishment during the entireday. I wish I had known the magic invocation: “Keepthe gunpowder dry…” If only we humans could seethese bad things coming!

Do you know that bumblebees can actually see UVlight? That must be some kind of psychedelic surge!Just think how different the world must look to a bum-blebee. But why UV light? Perhaps bumblebees devel-oped this ability so that they can “see” what could hurtthem. After all, UV radiation is a killer. It destroyscells. Recall that the atmosphere is a selective filter. Itpasses light rays and radio waves. This allows us to seeand to communicate. Great! At least the atmosphere is

EDITORIAL

It Must Be Great To Be a Bumblebee