Goodbye Arnoldo Kraus... or see you later?

All of us who knew Arnoldo Kraus can attest to his kindness in his everyday dealings, the deep appreciation he felt for everyone around him, and his empathetic attitude, never contrived in any way. He was one of those human beings whom, from the first moment, one could feel truly fortunate to have met.

One of the aspects that particularly caught my attention was his sense of humor, which, incidentally, is common among people of preeminent intelligence. In his case, it was also interspersed with a genuinely tolerant attitude toward the reasoning of everyone, regardless of their own beliefs. In a recent interview, I read that he defined himself as a convinced atheist, but he was always willing to converse in the friendliest of ways with people with opposing beliefs. So if I imagine a conversation with him, based on his conviction that there is nothing after death, with yours truly, whose position is more agnostic, where there is the possibility that something after life exists, and I were to say something like, "Goodbye... or, see you later?", I can imagine the genuine smile on his face, on the verge of laughter, and that's how I want to remember him forever.

It's one of those losses that hurts today and will always hurt; I consider him one of the most important doctors in the country, with contributions in all aspects of the practice of medicine, but certainly the most interesting from the human and ethical perspective of medical practice. His work is enormous not only for the number of published texts, but because he poured forth from his pores a will to know, to discuss, to speak, to build a new framework that would allow for a profound change in medical practice, one in which all perspectives on life and death are acceptable, a scenario in which each person has the freedom to live and die according to their convictions. His contributions allow us to believe that a secular ethic is possible and, of course, the best, because the fundamental value is unconditional respect for the diverse thoughts and convictions of contemporary Mexico. Like any self-respecting intellectual, he never ceased to exercise criticism, but with a profound sense of contribution.

Rest in peace, my friend, colleague, and admired Arnoldo , a man of his time, upright, integral in the broadest sense of the word, admired not only by me, as is clear from the enormous number of people who have expressed their condolences. I send you a hug, in case you're somewhere.