Invitation

Dear Friends,
Dear Colleagues,

Maybe it is true, that the only thing that belongs to us is time. Again, maybe all of us belong to it totally. The point is that we must consider time as a friend, not an enemy. We don’t have to win any fight against it, just appreciate its value.

We all know that all great achievements in life require time. But it is not the achievement itself -the “Ithaca” as the famous Greek poet K. Kavafis named the goal-, that matters so much, as the journey towards it. It is the time you spend trying to reach “Ithaca”, it is the experiences you collect during the journey, it is the journey itself that makes any achievement important.

When we started this voyage to our common Ithaca, “The Euro-Asian Bridge” Society, we had to fight our own “Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the angry Poseidon”. We had to fight prejudices and chronic establishments, we had to fight disappointments and disagreements, we had to fight customariness and even political antagonisms. But, we always kept “Ithaca” in our mind. Time worked for us, not against us.

Today, we are proud enough to say that Poseidon is presenting us a fair wind, in order to reach our “Ithaca”. “The Euro-Asian Bridge” idea is spreading, expanding and blooming.

There is no better proof to that, than the fact that during our last Meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, we all welcomed Dr Aleksandar Nikolic, as a Delegate Member of Montenegro. This year, we have the honor and the delight to welcome one more country to our bond –Lithuania, and Dr Gintaras Kalinauskas as its Delegate Member. The “Euro-Asian Bridge” Society is becoming an established institution, and the common idea we all share is finally turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

This year, our journey has a special way station. The 7th Annual Meeting of the Euro-Asian Bridge, will be hosted by the pioneer Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon and bosom friend, Dr Borut Gersak, in Portorož, Slovenia, between 21st to 23rd of May. Knowing Dr Gersak as a scientist and as a man, I am sure that all of us, who will participate to this Meeting, will bless the opportunity we have to sail for this unique “journey”.

Dear Friends,

As the President of “The Euro-Asian Bridge”, as a “sailor” enjoying this spectacular voyage to “Ithaca”, I invite you all to Portorož. I am expecting you all, in order to share with you the great moments that this journey is giving us. Besides, without “Ithaca”, without “The Euro-Asian Bridge” idea, we would have never set out on the road…

My best regards

Sotirios N. Prapas, MD, FETCS