HW 25

For those without healthcare insurance life sucks and getting medical care costs an arm and a leg (sometimes literally), but that's not who I'm documenting. I'm documenting those of you with medical care, how there are so many holes in our healthcare system, and using it show you how corporate America has there hands in every pocket of our lives. There are better alternatives, such as a better and more friendly socialized healthcare system like they have in France, England, and Canada. These healthcare systems are just as good as our expensive ones, if not better, and are free. America can get there, but the question is if we ever will. 

1. People with healthcare can still be turned down for many things, including pre-existing conditions.

Importance: To show people how our system of doing things sucks.

2. France's healthcare system is more efficient, and very friendly.

Importance: To show why a more socialist country's system is better.

Although Moore never directly said that the French doctors were government-employees, he tried to merge it with Britain's healthcare system, he used similarities to make it seem as though their respective health care systems were identical. So this quote doesn't directly counter his argument, but it was still pretty sneaky of him to do, "The doctors are not government employees, especially the médecin non conventionné, the private doctors who are allowed to charge whatever they want for their services." 

Moore made some points and really tried to sell the nationalized healthcare system. He makes life seem much better and longer in France, England, and Cuba, even though in France they can expect to live only 2 years longer than Americans. One thing I took from this movie is that it seems like the world always gets it right while we don't. But have we forgotten what America is? That it's our country, that changed the world through the creation of the assembly line, that some of the world's greatest minds came from or to America? That if you try hard, you can make it. A lot of cynical people love to shit on our country. Sorry if I've ventured off point, but it boils my blood when people, who are only in their position because of America, bite the hand that fed them.

HW 24

Tuesdays with Morrie
Published in 1997 by Random House



The last third of the book is the definitely the most touching. It shows Morrie in his final days and how he has ultimately come to terms with his impeding death. He talks of regret and forgiveness, and I think he gives great insights during his final days. But there is contradiction in it, that a man who seems so adamant at picking apart society and criticizing it, is saying things that one would think to be archetypal coming from a man on his death bed. One insight for example is the necessity to forgive, he speaks of it a lot. But don't we all believe that we should forgive others and ourselves when we die, and that we should be forgiven? While beautiful and touching, Morrie's story didn't stray far from the predictable patterns and common practices of death.

Precis:

Morrie is coming to the very end. The hardest thing to deal with is saying goodbye. It seems I've been putting it off in my mind, sort of thinking that I'd never have to say goodbye. I'm just fearful that when the day comes, I won't know what to say


"You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened."

People say this all the time. The words themselves are not insightful, the practice of them is. The fact that a man facing life's great ultimatum can forgive himself and those around him shows us that when we die, it may be our one chance to recollect and forgive.

"I like to think it was a fleeting moment of satisfaction for my dear old professor: he had finally made me cry."

Tears may come often to some, but they always hold the weight of the world. In an instance like this, what Mitch knew to be the final tuesday, tears said more than any amount of words could have, and I believe that was the best goodbye Morrie could have asked for.

"It'll get my body. It will not get my spirit."

Many believe that our spirit makes us. That no matter what takes us over or what we do physically, our spirit is forever. I can't say I agree, but Morrie made me agree. His story touched me and put me right there next to him, and I'm starting to believe in our spirit.

We live our lives in the great pursuit of happiness. Most of us end up with some happiness. Death is our ticket out of everything, happy and sad. Whatever it may be, it's bound to end. I think the most important thing about it illness and death, is to be free of regret and to be brave. Morrie showed us both, and although his death may not have been the way he wanted, it still made an impact. On millions.

HW 23

Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom
Published in 1997 by Random House

                     The second third of the book hurls the reader straight into the conversations and connections between Mitch and Morrie. In the second third we see insights that are beautiful and well worded and some that are repulsive and not part of the dominant discourse of illness and dying. An insight that many feel isn't acceptable to talk about is Morrie's inability to wipe his own behind. Morrie had been dreading the day that he lost that bit of independence. But now that he has come to terms with it, he embraces it and finds comfort in being nearly fully dependent on the aide of others. Another insight that seems to be the overall theme of the book is; When you learn how to die, you learn how to live. This is beautiful, but one can't say they agree or disagree until they are in that position.

Precis:

Morrie is pulling me out of my lifestyle where I just chase a paycheck. He is showing me the world through his eyes and I'm coming to comprehend the overwhelming significance of everything. I am fearful that his time will soon come to it's last act, and all I can do is hope that my presence makes his last days better.

Quotes:

"I don't want to leave the world in a state of fright. I want to know what's happening, accept it, get to a peaceful place and let go."

Morrie seems to have everything planned out, except for the last split second. His actual death, as well as anyone else's, will come as a surprise and how exactly it will happen is up in the air until it actually happens.

"I grin at my brother, and we are united by childish pride. That wasn't so hard, we think, and we are ready to take on death again."

When we are young, life is endless and death is at the back of our minds. Youth is the ability to be care-free and not worry. When we are young, nothing can stop us.

""Every day, she did the same thing: came out in the morning, lay on the floor, stayed there until the evening, talking to no one, ignored by everyone. It saddened Morrie. He began to sit on the floor with her, even lay down alongside her, trying to draw her out of her misery."

Morrie was such an amazing person, but not only that, he understood people and rather than turn them into a science project, he interacted with them and came to understand them.

The second third of Tuesdays with Morrie has been arresting and moving, it has tested everything I know about death but for some reason when I read it, I still see Hollywood. I see Morrie looking pristine even though he is sick. I see the perfect setting with two men having a deep conversation. I can't bring myself to see Morrie as he probably looked. Maybe that's the affect society has had on my way of thinking and perceiving, or maybe Mitch Albom wrote it this way to make something that looked horrible seem angelic and divine.

HW 21b - Comments

Your insights are well organized and very detailed. I like how you addressed the insight of a man's choice to not see a doctor. It made it that much more personal that you connected it to your life. I think this adds a the personal touch and allows for your readers to become more engaged in your writing.

Your post is pretty insightful and raises questions that we havent really addressed. One part in particular that stood out to me was; "Now that I think about it if people didn't have to worry about there death and were always surrounded by people who loved them, there passing would be more peaceful an a lot more relaxing" This is interesting, because I think that at some point if someone is ill, they do worry about it. And if they dont worry about it specifically, they are worrying about its repercussions. Such as the inability to provide for their family, and how they will be thought of after death. Also, how can passing be relaxing?

Your post is not lacking in detail, which is interesting seeing as you werent here. I found this quote to be especially insightful; "I’ve noticed that when someone dies the people they leave behind often feel as though their lives need to stop. They find comfort in hiding from the world verses just living." I hadn't really thought of that in my analysis of Beth's presentation. That people stop living after a death close to them. But you didn't explain why, or why you think. That would have reinforced your point.

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Steph said...
The way you chose to list your insights and experiences was creative. unlike other blogs you intertwined the insights into your paragraphs and explained them with depth and thought. I believe if you connected your thoughts to yourself in more depth your pst could have been more powerful. other then that i really enjoyed reading your work and I look forward to reading more.


 megumi said...
Overall, I enojoyed reading your post. One of the insights that caught my attention was, "At some point they need to maintain a distance and fully remove themselves emotionally. Is it better for a doctor to be cold and calculating or emotionally connected?" I thought you raised a question that was not only insightful, but a question people don't like to think about. Personally, I don't have a clear answer to that question. I think a doctor needs to maintain a balance between distance and connection with a patient, but that's easier to say than done.


 Sarah L said...
You posed some interesting ideas based off of what Beth said, one idea that stood out to me the most was, "At some point they need to maintain a distance and fully remove themselves emotionally. Is it better for a doctor to be cold and calculating or emotionally connected?" It makes you wonder the tolerance a doctor has for sadness. If they are loosing a patient everyday I can't even begin to imagine the range of emotions they must experience. Constantly feeling a sense of mourning, as you said though, do they become immune to death? Do you think out of all of the human beings on this planet they are the least scared to die?

Vin (older) said...
Not a bad post, all-in-all, if a bit short.

The question you pose "Is it better for a doctor to be cold and calculating or emotionally connected?" has quite a bit of validity- should a doctor seek a more personal method of care for his/her patient in order to restore a semblance of humanity to the situation, or should they present you with the simple facts and not try to encroach on your life unnecessarily? It could be a good cause for discussion.

As for the phenomena you're touching on, like "another interesting common practice, is saying "sorry" when we hear of loss, as if we could have stopped it or something." is empathy, how we seem to understand the feelings of another by being able to associate the kind of pain they feel to us.

I'd work on your grammar here- mind where you put your commas and be careful of your word choice. This could be said more simply, with more eloquence.

Good work, boy.
Vin

I need to find a new younger, I had one set up who agreed to do it, but I came to the conclusion that she is too immature and a little too young.

HW 22

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom published in 1997 by Random house is a heart-warming and intellectual novel that gives some pretty interesting insights about our dominant social practices regarding illness and death. When Morrie is diagnosed with ALS, he sees a doctor, which is a dominant social practice, he also takes medication. However, an odd factor that one might not see often is Morrie's choice to teach about his death. He tries to make the best of it rather than just wither away.

I have grown out of my college life and subsequently forgotten about my favorite teacher, Morrie. I have reconnected with him as he has now again become my teacher, and I feel I will learn more now than I ever have.

"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it." (p.42)

This is an interesting quote, because we all know the first part, but people hardly practice the second part, which is more important.


“Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do”
(pg 18)

I agree with what Morrie is saying, I just don't know if I would be able to accept the inability to do things like run. I feel that in accepting your abilities and inabilities, you're kind of giving up your independence.


“There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, I’m so angry and bitter. But it doesn’t last too long. Then I get up and say, ‘I want to live . . .’”
(pg 21)

If I were in Morrie's position, I would want to be as strong as him. I doubt I would be able to though, I feel as though I would give up on life altogether.




When people get sick they give up.  Morrie got sick and decided to use it for something.
When people get sick they go to the hospital and stay there. Morrie got sick and went back to work. When people get sick, they feel their life is over. Morrie got sick and realized that his students' lives were just beginning. This book grabs dominant social practices of being ill - such as staying in the hospital and giving up on life - and kicks them in the face. Morrie finds productivity in the face of illness. He uses it for the benefit of others, and doesn't feel embaressed. The fact that this book is non-fiction makes the story that much more inspirational. This actually happened, this man died and left the biggest mark possible, educated minds.

HW 21

           Beth's story was very touching and she masked nothing, there were no falsehoods or exaggerations. Her story was raw, explicit, and very evocative. It made us think about death, rather than just hide it deep in the back of our minds. Which is interesting, seeing as she told us after that, before her husband's death, she hardly though of death and even up to his death it was never spoken of or acknowledged. I think in a way, she was doing what for us what happened to her, she was forcing us to think about death. I, personally, never think about death, not that I'm scared of it, as she said she was, but because it's unpredictable and eminent.
           Her story also showed me that you have to be human about it, especially in the hospitals, you have to show them that you're human. You can't just be your disease, these doctors need to understand that you are a human. But that also raises another question; How human can a doctor think you are? At some point they need to maintain a distance and fully remove themselves emotionally. Is it better for a doctor to be cold and calculating or emotionally connected?
           What I also took from this was the idea of keeping your loved ones alive through your actions. One seldom sees the cliche line, "they are alive in our hearts" put to work. Beth practices it all the time. She continues to do art workshops that he started, in remembrance of him and in his honor. I think this is amazing and shows us that even though someone may be gone, they are not lost.
           Another interesting thing is that when we hear a story of another's loss, we can't help but feel sorry for them, and "fell their pain". As we wrote the thank you card for her I noticed that while most people didn't really get into detail, they all said that they were touched. While they may have just been writing this for the sake of common courtesy, I believe that most of us were touched, we felt for Beth, Evan, and Josh. The human mind loves a happy ending, and when we come face to face with a sad story, our perception of it becomes biased because we feel the pain of those who are directly affected by the loss. Another interesting common practice, is saying "sorry" when we hear of loss, as if we could have stopped it or something.
          Overall, I felt Beth's presentation was courageous, but more than anything, it was thought provocative. I think when humans hear of loss, they can only feel sorry for the person.  But given time to think about it, we can become more analyctical.

HW 19

My parents' views on death are little to none, they have little to say about the topic. My dad believes that it's unpredictable and unavoidable, so we shouldn't dwell on the topic. For illness, I'd like to focus on my dad. When he was 14 years old, he was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a cancerous bone tumor, on his right leg. When I asked him about it, and how it was to be ill his response was, "It sucks". He said that chemotherapy was horrible as well, it has been 36 years since then, and it hasn't shown up at all, and I really hope it doesn't. The conversation didn't go much farther than that, and I didn't want to push. I just think my family and I don't think of illness or death, not because we're scared of it, but because, well you can't do anything about, everyone's going to die. And, chances are, with the amount of illnesses out there, you're bound to be sick at one point in your life. How can you worry about something when you're positive that it's going to happen?