Skip to main content

Reply to 'Sinks'

I received this kind note in reply to 'Sinks', and wanted to publish it because it addresses quite succinctly what I feel is a reasonable retort. I am always touched to discover suffering in others. It is one of my greatest gratifications as a physician to be able to relieve the anxiety, sadness, embarrassment and pain of another person. I am grateful to the reply in helping me to unscrew my head. It is a very stressful time, and that sends me in unproductive and, according to my replies, unjustified directions. Here is the note-

Once again I have been reading your PORSH. Sinks + Vanities (pun intended) – I truly believe that the vast majority of us harbour those inner views of our true selves as vain, loathsome, horrible things; unworthy of the love, respect, desire, and admiration of those around us. But given that those around us do give us, in varying degrees, those things, does that not counterbalance that inner person we fear and hate so? If we were, in fact, that inner person to the outside world, we would not be who we are. The prisons, asylums, and legislatures are filled with those people whose outer self IS their inner self. No barrier of culture or self-control and reflection contains their vain, loathsome, horrible selves, and we watch them as Kardashian-like, they parade their loathsome creepiness to the world - or in the case of the legislatures, work to remake the world in their own loathsome creepy view. We are the products of our upbringings and the social milieu [an over-used word, but meaningful in this context] in which we grew up. People such as thee and me reflect on that inner self and know that those flaming words on the wall are meant for no one but us and try, day-in-and-day-out, to wipe the words from the stone as Scrooge said. That is what makes us good and decent people. Not because we believe ourselves worthy, but only because we TRY to make ourselves worthy. The people who concern me the most are those who do NOT look at their true, inner selves as vain, loathsome, horrible things; unworthy of the love, respect, desire, and admiration of those around them. They are the Napoleons, Caesars, Hitlers, Stalins, and I fear, thousands of others for whom that right combination of circumstances never occurs to bring them to power. Another topic for another time – sorry for the stream of consciousness note…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Forgiveness

 In doing years of medical teaching, I have told students that teaching and learning are not directly related. I can teach and teach, but you may never learn. Conversely, you may learn continuously without me teaching you a thing. 'I teach' and 'you learn' are two separate, active processes that may overlap or coincide. The same is true of forgiveness. I am an unforgiving man. I am the very opposite of God, who is slow to anger and of great kindness. I am quick to anger and very slow to forgive. I'm kind and insightful with people generally, but when mistreated or insulted I am not kind at all, nor do I forget, or forgive.  The Bible tells us to do something else. We are told to forgive. In Matthew 18:21, Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive his brother's sin. The Jewish standard was three times. Like the young man in the story of the Samaritan, who asks who his brother is in order to know to whom he should be loving, Peter appears to be asking for guida...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Broken Tooth

 I broke a tooth today. I've done that before; I inherited my mother's horrible teeth, and if not for crowns I would have the smile of any drug-addicted homeless man in the street. But the tooth broke, rather than the crown coming off. I've had that happen a couple of times, and it's nothing. After all, the tooth is just fake, held on by cements similar to the ones I use for my models. This time, however, I have to have the root extracted so I can get the modern version of a bridge. And this new dental experience has reduced to me to jelly, this not helped by the condescending, sexist comments of the dental assistant. I have a long, longe memory, my first recollections coming from age 2. I have well-developed, detailed memories from age 3 onward. I vividly recall being at the dentiswt as a child, when it was fashionable to fill baby teeth. I can recall being left there by my mother as a 14 year old, on the day I was paid for working as 'the 5th ace' at Camp Maga...
1 comment
Read more

Politically Correct Dishonor

The Biblical prophets warned aloud that devastation would come to those who were unclean. Those that profaned God and the house of God, those who were drunken, fornicators, idolators, those that cheated, that gave unclean offerings. Israel was warned of the consequences of their behavior. And God did not punish Israel. Rather, by walking away from God, Israel simply suffered the consequences of its behavior and choices. I chose, I chose , to live, to receive a transplant. I struggled to have the surgery that prolonged my life, I accepted the gift of a kidney from a whole person that I might live. I was convinced by family and friends that I had some role in the world, something I might contribute. And I believed that. My idea of contribution was to teach, to give to others what I had learned to do. But I have lived to see injustice. To see self-interest and greed triumph over not merely right but reason as well. I see incompetence passed off as expertise, the mundane as the s...
2 comments
Read more