The Patient

Several years ago the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article by Dr. Paul Ruskin on the Stages of Aging. In the article, Dr. Ruskin described a case study he had presented to his students when teaching a class in medical school. He described the case study patient under his care like this:

“The patient neither speaks nor comprehends the spoken word. Sometimes she babbles incoherently for hours on end. She is disoriented about person, place, and time. She does, however respond to her name. I have worked with her for the past six months, but she still shows complete disregard for her physical appearance and makes no effort to assist her own care. She must be fed, bathed and clothed by others.

“Her food must be pureed. Her shirt is usually soiled from almost incessant drooling. She does not walk. Her sleep pattern is erratic. Often she wakes in the middle of the night and her screaming awakens others. Most of the time she is friendly and happy, but several times a day she gets quite agitated without apparent cause. Then she wails until someone comes to comfort her.”

After presenting the class with this challenging case, Dr. Ruskin then asked his students if any of them would like to volunteer to take care of this person. No one volunteered. Then Dr. Ruskin said, “I’m surprised that none of you offered to help, because actually she is my favorite patient. I get immense pleasure from taking care of her and I am learning so much from her. She has taught me a depth of gratitude I never knew before. She has taught me the spirit of unwavering trust. And she has taught me the power of unconditional love.” Then Dr. Ruskin said, “Let me show you her picture.” He pulled out the picture and passed it around. It was the photo of his six-month-old baby daughter.

(A story which has been circulating the internet. Don’t know true or not but lovely enough to record)

Mata Hari

On being accused of prostitution and espionage, Mata Hari replied; “Harlot? Yes. Traitoress? Never!”

I believe prostitutes are highly underrated. They are much more decent and honest in compare to many.

The Poet

A man used to write poems for the woman he loved.
One day … all of a sudden the woman abandoned him.

He kept writing…
He wrote more.. and more….
And one day he became a famous poet.

Years later, he went back to his home-town to read his poems on a big poetry night.
At the end of the performance, the woman for the love of whom all the poems were written, came along with her husband next to her
…. and said “Hello”

The man looked at her, as if he was looking at an ordinary person.
“Haven’t you recognized me?” she asked.
“No I haven’t” he replied..
“How come!?
I’m the woman for whom you have written poems;
I’m the woman who turned you into a poet…”

The man looked in the eyes of the woman and said:

“If the magic was all about you, the man standing next to you should have been a poet too.”.

Black And White

I admire writers and poets. They describe the tiny, hidden connections between things. Unfortunately I don’t have the talent.

I was thinking of Einstein’s famous saying “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”. Or in the same vein “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. I mean it’s how you see it. Just think how a physicist sees/describes the sun and how a poet does. Accordingly the notorious love can be defined an obsession, a mental sickness, an anomaly a malfunction of hormones.

I was thinking about these last week. Couldn’t put them into words. Until reading something about the singer Amy Winehouse. I barely knew her, except listening to a few of her songs and having read the headlines saying she was eccentric and was an alcoholic. I was surprised when I heard some time ago something like she lied on the kitchen floor because of the pain of love. At the time this gave me a hunch that she could not be the ordinary spoilt celebrity stereotype.

Something I read today struck me;

“…They believe the singer’s decision to lay off alcohol completely for three weeks was a lethal “shock” for her tiny body. Family sources say she died after ignoring her doctor’s advice to cut down on her heavy drinking gradually.
….
…doctors had told Amy to gradually reduce her intake of alcohol and to avoid bingeing at all costs. Amy told him she couldn’t do that. It was all or nothing and she gave up completely.”

Can you see the relevance? Have you felt close to Amy too?

Sword of Damocles

Dyogenes who asked nothing but not ceasing the sun from Alexander great is said to live in a barrel. Because he did not want to posses anything that can leave him.
One loves something/someone with the assumption of having it forever. Otherwise it becomes something borrowed. One cannot love something if it is temporary. If the possibility of parting is swinging over it like Sword of Damocles, there is no love.
Have you ever wished the sword fell? Or couldn’t bear the thought of falling which killed you thousands of times, and pulled the sword and cut the knot yourself?
I did.

Blind Man’s Bluff

It was dark. Nothing could be seen. His voice echoed in the emptiness:
” Hello!….”
He continued walking. And again:
” Hello!….”
He was not expecting a reply any more, yet again:
” Hello!….”
Something unexpected :
“Hello”
He reached for the owner of the voice in the dark. Their hands touched each other.
She held his hand. He held her hand tighter. The other hand too. He layed all his armour and guard aside. Then she took one hand back, and pushed him slightly away.
Panicked, he grabbed her arm. “Don’t!”. Panicked, she hit his hand. Instinctively, he did the same. She took her other hand back, and grabbed the first thing she touched and hit him with it.
He said “Don’t, please don’t”. She hit again. He hang his head. She hit again. Was bleeding. “For heavens sake, please …” he could whisper.
Again with fear, again with passion, and again hit she…. He stood still in tears and blood.
When she stopped, she sawthat it was her own heart she was holding.

Spots

I cannot remember exactly, in the film “A Beautiful Mind”, after being cured, John Forbes Nash, says he still sees his imaginary characters but knows that they are not real and learned to live with them.
A bit like heartaches…Time does not heal them. One learns to live with them. One, all the time, knows that they are lingering somewhere inside. Sometimes, usually on the less expected unguarded times, they find a way to come forward and take their stage.