The Illness and Dying Unit has provoked various feelings and ideas in my mind. I learned while watching Sicko that taxes are not necessarily a negative part of the government, and that they often promote social equality, happiness and health. In our Capitalist government, adults complain about taxes. Based on my observations of the French and Canadians in Sicko and a Swedish woman's musings upon her socialist government, many people don't mind higher taxes when they see the results, and the drastic differences between the US and their own countries.
While reading "Tuesdays With Morrie", I gained a new perspective towards having a fulfilling life. When Mitch Albom questions Morrie about what Morrie's perfect day would be, Morrie describes a very normal day. "It was so simple. So average...How could he find perfection in such a simple day? Then i realized that this was the whole point" (page 176). This passage reiterated for me the idea that life (to Morrie) is not about pursuing the most exotic, exciting thing and activities possible, so as to obtain happiness. Fulfillment in life is found by finding love and friendship in what is already there. This is one man's opinion, but it makes sense to me. The idea of finding fullness and beauty in each event and thing (like a budding plant, the view out of a window or a discussion with a dear friend) is so simple, and yet so many people spend their lives buying and spending to reach happiness, only to experience regret later. I will try to live like Morrie: fearlessly looking, and seeing the beauty in what is right there.
Another insight I gained from "Tuesdays With Morrie", was that life is literally the process of your body decaying, withering away. We can prolong that process by keeping the body healthy and treating it well, but we cannot prevent death, and if we value the body or other materials too much, we will be sorely disappointed. Therefore, because love and human bonds last longer than death, we should build upon that aspect or life as much as possible. I think that is why Morrie said that "Love is the only rational act."
I learned that it is possible to live by one's values in extreme, life changing ways. Most people I know have regrets about the way they are living, or wish they could do more to make a difference, but cannot because of family obligations, financial troubles, physical limits, or lack of education. Nearly every action Paul Farmer takes, whether traveling, speaking, reading, or writing, is done in accordance with his values and beliefs. This is encouraging and inspiring, albeit the fact that living by one's beliefs often means considerable sacrifices.
I found that "Tuesdays With Morrie" was very helpful to me in understanding our culture's dominant social practices, and alternatives to them. Morrie described the way our culture avoids and fears death and negative feelings. He expressed that it is better to dive in and experience emotions completely, understanding them and thus being able to recognize them later. Once that emotion is understood, it can be dealt with maturely later in life. Evan's mother provided an example of this alternative in the way she dealt with her husband's death. She openly discussed her emotions during and after the painful experience, and (in my opinion) revealed emotional and mental health and maturity as a result. "Mountains Beyond Mountains" also revealed this dominant practice to some degree; Farmer reveled in the enthusiasm and utter emotions that his Haitian fellows always had; this connotes a contrast between the US citizens and the Haitians he has encountered. Because he was used to the reserved emotional state of his childhood country, he was surprised and pleased by the openly emotional Haitian nation. Our culture's dominant social practice of avoiding certain emotions is also revealed in the struggle of Paul Farmer and Partners In Health to find enough money to help the horrible, sad needs of the sick. If our culture was more willing to accept unpleasant feelings and thoughts of sickness, then more people would acknowledge and be moved to act for the needy.
I think that, because we have explored our own feelings about illness and dying, as well as the feelings of our families and average fellow citizens, we should learn about what the "experts" say. We should also learn about what qualifies someone to be an expert about such topics, particularly death. Perhaps we should explore how the opinions of the experts contrast or correlate with dominant social views, and our own views. We should question how the experts have/have not transformed our beliefs about death and sickness. I have never heard of an expert of death, but the closest possible person could be someone who claims to have died and come back to life, or who has been someone/thing in another life. The experts of sickness are probably doctors like Paul Farmer, or the fatally ill like Morrie Schwartz. Perhaps in class could outline the views of "experts", because this method of reviewing helps students to hear the ideas of their peers, understand their culture's views through visuals, and remember what they learned thus far in the unit.
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