Christopher R
1. Not being able to seek health because the lack of health insurance
2. (The sadness in her voice in different moments of the story)
3. Not being in denial but hoping for the best.
4. Difference in reaction from both children.
5. Husband’s body changed completely, unlike in movies.
6. Surrounding her husband with artwork that he had created
7. Introducing him with his artwork then his kids. Not being described by just a disease.
8. Being the one who wants to care for her sick husband 24/7 not having doctors do it for her.
9. Letting Evan be exposed to one of the worse times in his dad’s life.
10. Telling her husband to let go because his body would be much use to him.
Number Five: When people who don’t have direct experiences with someone dying, such as myself there’s some sort of confusion of what this would actually be like when it does happen. So what most people get their views from on they see people dying and handling this is the television. It’s almost as if the world of television and anyone who “resides” there can influence the way we live in “real life” and how we react to things that happen to us. She mentioned that while he was in the worse stages of his cancer, he didn’t look the same and all the bones in his body were showing. She also mentioned that the entire process was long and heart-wrenching. I’ve never had anyone close to me die but watching someone die who had be one of the closest people to you couldn’t possibly compare to a two part episode of family matters. The pain of seeing someone almost helpless in the position where they couldn’t talk anymore has to be a far more devastating than having to wait to the next to watch one of your favorite characters get wheeled away by a celebrity guest doctor. Personally I haven’t experienced any death as close as to losing a husband; I’ve never lost an immediate family member. My view of how losing someone closes to me can’t even be compared to someone who has gone through, so even if I try to think of how it will be its most likely nowhere nears the pain people must feel.
Number Seven: After people get sick the only thing they can be defined by is there illness. It starts to become there personality. Instantly someone who has AIDS is now recognized by this because of the large part of the day that has to be dedicated to keeping diseases under control. After the disease starts to change a person’s body, now this person is also physically associated with the disease. Why the disease starts to infect your body it also infects the way people see and treat you. By introducing someone who is sick to another person by the work that they have, it creates the idea that this person is more than the disease because they did do something BEFORE they became sick and they will be something after everything is said and done. Personally if I was being introduced to someone while I was in one of the worse states in my life, I wouldn’t be want to be viewed by my lowest moment, just like Beth tried to do I would want to be loved for the things I have done, the people I have help, and anything I have helped created. The day you die is the lowest moment that a person is viewed (or at least seconds before you die). If everyone went around thinking about the worse times someone had there wouldn’t be any reason for accomplishing anything. All the hard work done in life would be lost once death came, instead of preserved for the people close to you.
The biggest Idea that Beth’s presentation sparked was, referring to the last ten days of her husband’s life as, “The last ten days”. This really got to me because when someone is sick they may know they are going to die but there is no expiration date. So the people who succeed this person and use terms like “the last ten days gives me a weird feeling. Even though these were the last ten days I feel like if Beth’s husband knew that he only had ten more days he would have tried to use them differently. So referring to this as the last ten days just seems like a inaccurate way of referring to this.
chris,
ReplyDeleteI think you answered the question Andy posed thoughtfully, fully and in a very organized manner. I think this was pro aswell as a con. I think your post can be more interesting when you find an insight you are either knowledgable about or curious about and persue it to the best you can. I very much enjoyed the second to last paragraph and the last one I thought it was the most insightful and you could have definitly expanded on it. I think that you should try to think deeply on the topic itself rather than precisely following a rubric. The rubric helps when ur struggling no doubt, but if you want to improve your own insights and make it more interesting for myslef think deeply and try to find a passionate idea you have. when u love the idea the reader loves reading about it. hope my comment helps
Hi Chris!
ReplyDeleteI think you tackled some really tough subject matter very gracefully. You made it clear that although you've never been in such a position, you can still understand the range of feelings someone experiences when someone close to them passes away. Your line "The pain of seeing someone almost helpless ... wheeled away by a celebrity guest doctor" really struck me, because it hits very close to home. As a teenager in America, I'm no stranger to the horrors of fatal illnesses; it's hard to watch TV at night without stumbling across at least one show romanticizing hospitals and sick people. It tends to make people desensitized, so that when they come into contact with real-life death experiences, they're shocked by the level of seriousness and loss.
I'd say you could improve your writing by getting a little passionate. You come off as a tad stiff, like you're concentrating more on using nice words and concise sentences then you are on conveying your ideas. Get passionate! Think about what you're saying, and let the reader in on your thought process. It's a lot more relatable that way. :)
Chris,
ReplyDeleteThere were a few grammatical/spelling errors in your post, but overall I felt like you got most of your ideas across well. Your last paragraph was thought-provoking, I would imagine that if you were in such late stages of cancer that you would know that you would die fairly soon. And really, when you are that sick just about all you can do is lie in a bed. He could barely eat and needed morphine, I doubt there was much he could have done differently Chris.
Your paragraph about the stigma that is associated with people who have AIDS was very relevant to our group right now, because in Jamaica Kincaid's book that is a very important theme. I think there are parallels to that social disassociation in nature, the sick and dying are shunned in many animal groups, and are usually culled from the herd. Maybe there's some base instinct to avoid a sick person that stems from a survivalist need to avoid getting sick yourself.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteNiiiiiice. I like how you went deeper into what Beth said in the 2nd paragraph... "Personally if I was being introduced to someone while I was in one of the worse states in my life, I wouldn’t be want to be viewed by my lowest moment, just like Beth tried to do I would want to be loved for the things I have done, the people I have help, and anything I have helped created." I really liked this part because I completely agree and I think it is easy to easily get labeled as a disease. I also think you make a really good point in the last paragraph because I felt like everyone knew it was his last 10 days but it's not like he "had an expiration date" like you said.