In Celebration of Being Alive
Dr Christian Barnard, the pioneering cardiac-transplant surgeon, has been influential in me being a medical doctor and not some engineering graduate from IIT. Had decided to be a doctor early at the age 16, after reading a lesson “In celebration of being alive” in English textbook of CBSE standard 10th ! In-spite of being extremely strong in Mathematics and Physics , I chose biology and Medicine because of my passion for serving the sufferers and poor. I have maintained that passion throughout my life as a clinical scientist , clinical researcher and Healthcare Executive.
I posted this “sort of a disclaimer” , because of some general (mis) beliefs that :
1) Doctors take up medicine because they are poor in Mathematics and Physics
2) Doctors become doctors just to make money and lack passion of service , research and innovation
I have tried my best to prove both these (mis) beliefs wrong through my life and career.
Coming to the topic of the blog post, the quote that I remembered and inspired ( or instigated) this final blog post of the year was the following by Dr Christian Barnard :
“Suffering ennobles you, makes you a better person. You don’t become a better person because you are suffering; but you become a better person because you have experienced suffering. We can’t appreciate light if we haven’t known darkness. Nor can we appreciate warmth if we have never suffered cold. It’s not what you’ve lost that’s important. What is important is what you have left.. “
Recently, Dr Shriram Lagoo passed away. He was known “atheist” and a doctor who had given up practice for his passion for theater. He never believed in existence of God and has been an idol/ poster boy of liberals, socialists and atheists. In one of his interviews (that I heard recently), he reminisces about how life is full of suffering and that there is very little happiness in life. He even mentions that life is like a huge mountain of unhappiness and suffering while happiness is small pinch of sand !!
This sentence intrigued me. Made me think if this person was really logical in his acts and thinking or was he depressed and unhappy all along and lacked positivity , good guidance and advice from a mentor ? Was it his stubbornness that made him suffer all along his life and made him live a life that was more unhappy than happy ? Whatever … I would not subscribe to his philosophy of life and stick to the philosophy of Dr Christian Barnard, who as a doctor — cardiac surgeon , a religious man who later devoted his life to study of pharmacogenetics , genetics, biotechnology and gene therapy , all in service of the suffering patients and humanity in general.
He was a positive influence to many and a cheer leader to his patients , infused life and happiness to even the young dying children who needed cardiac transplants !
That is how I concluded about these distinct philosophies. For me this is a takeaway from year 2019. It re-emphasizes and re-establishes my long held belief in passionate life , positivity , en-nobbling value of suffering and positive thinking. That is the way I plan to venture further in 2020
Questions Answers
1. Answer the following questions in one or two sentences based on your understanding of the lesson.
a. What thoughts troubled Dr. Christian Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon?
Dr.Christian Barnard thought that suffering seems so cruelly prevalent in the world today. The 125 million children bom this year, 12 million are unlikely to reach the age of one. Another 6 million will die before the age of 5. These thoughts troubled Dr. Christian Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon.
b. What were Dr. Barnard’s feelings when he was hospitalized after an accident?
Dr. Barnard experienced not only agony and fear but also anger. He asked himself why should this happen to them.
c. When and where did the accident occur?
Few years ago Dr. Barnard and his wife met with an accident while crossing the street.
d. How did the hospitalization of Dr. Barnard and his wife affect their routine?
There were patients waiting for Dr.Barnard to operate on them. His wife had a young baby, who needed her care. Thus the hospitalization of Dr. Barnard and his wife affect their routine.
e. How was Dr. Barnard’s attitude to suffering different from that of his father’s?
Dr. Barnard’s father believed that Suffering was God’s will. But Dr.Barnard did not see nobility in a patient’s thrashing around in a sweat-soaked bed, mind clouded in agony.
h. Why did the choice of roles prove to be easy for them?
The mechanic, who provided motor power with his head to the trolley, was totally blind and the driver, who steered the trolley by scraping his foot on the floor, had only arm So the choice of roles proved to be easy for them.
i. Who encouraged them and how?
The rest of the patients in the hospital encouraged them. They encouraged them by the laughter and shouts of encouragement.
j. What does Dr. Barnard compare this entertainment to?
Dr. Barnard compares this entertainment to Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 car race.
k. What happened in the grand finale?
There was a grand finale of scattered plates and silverware. The nurse and ward sister caught up with them, scolded them and put them back to bed.
l. How does Dr. Barnard know the boy who played the trolley’s driver?
A few years earlier, Dr.Barnard had successfully closed a hole in the boy’s heart. As he had a malignant tumour, he came back to the hospital. Thus Dr. Barnard knows the boy who played the trolley’s driver.
m. What was the profound lesson that Dr. Barnard learnt from the boys?
Dr.Barnard realised that the joy of living is most important in the world. The children showed him what we have lost is not important but what we have left is important. This is the lesson he had leamt from the two boys.
2. Answer the following questions in three or four sentences.
a. Detail the statistics Dr. Barnard has provided in his speech.
Dr. Barnard mentions that 125 million children are born that year. Among them 12 million are unlikely to reach the age of one and another six million will die before the age of five. And, of the rest, many will end up as mental or physical cripples.
b. What happened when the doctor couple were crossing the street?
When the doctor was crossing the street with his wife, a car had hit them and knocked him into his wife. She was thrown into the other lane and struck by a car coming from the opposite direction.
c. What injuries did they sustain in the accident?
Dr.Bamard had eleven broken ribs and a perforated lung. His wife had a badly fractured shoulder.
d. Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering. Why?
Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering. As a doctor, he saw nothing noble in a patient’s thrashing around in a sweat-soaked bed, mind clouded in agony. He could not see any nobility in the crying of a lonely child in a ward at night.
e. Why does Dr. Barnard find suffering of children heartbreaking?
Dr. Barnard finds suffering of children heartbreaking. Because he felt sympathetic towards them and he knew about their total trust in doctors and nurses. They believe that the doctors and nurses are going to help them.
f. How did the boy who played the mechanic lose his eyesight?
When the boy was seven years old, his drunken mother threw a lantern at his father. It missed and hit the boy. Then he suffered severe third-degree bums on the upper part of his body, and lost both his eyes.
g. Why does Dr. Barnard describe the blind boy as a ‘walking horror’?
He was a walking horror, with a disfigured face and long flap of skin hanging from the side of his neck to his body. As the wound healed around his neck, his lower jaw became gripped in a mass of fibrous tissue. The only way this little boy could open his mouth was to raise his head. So Dr. Barnard describes the blind boy as a ‘walking horror’.
h. What were the problems the trolley driver suffered from?
The trolley driver had a hole in his heart. Dr.Barnard had successfully closed the hole in the boy’s heart. As he had a malignant tumour, he came back to the hospital. A few days before the race, his shoulder and arm were amputated. There was little hope of his recovery.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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