Billy Loman's Search For Meaning

One time, I was taken aback and saddened by a patient yelling a plea to God as she was suffering through tremendous pain. As I walked into the room, the first thing this patient did was stop yelling and attempt to put on a calm face. It was a sobering moment, but I proceeded to ask her if I could do anything to help. What struck me most about this moment, was how much fight this lady could conjure up to hide her pain and yet still remain compassionate towards me. I hadn't expected anything, but this experience was a brilliant reminder of why I wanted so badly to improve the conditions of patients across the medical spectrum. I couldn't fathom the extent of this patient's pain, but I could fathom the idea of pain itself. In the patient, I saw a little bit of myself. I wanted to help this patient greatly and desired the means to do so. In this patient, I saw the nature of humanity. Human beings, for the most part, are inherently good and strive to be selfless even at their weakest moments. In fact, most people I know tend to be more worried about others than themselves, whether it be from a positive or negative perspective. As I got to know this patient, I realized how much she wanted to be with her family and see her grandchildren grow up. Though she was aware of the pain and suffering, she was also aware of what could be once she got through this struggle. Once I become a medical doctor, I can give back

When my victim cried in pain, I recognized the gravity of the situation. This was no longer a joke. I thought it would have been amusing to act as if I was going to rub hand sanitizer towards this person’s face. I wanted to get a reaction from this person, to watch him flinch before me. As soon as the hand sanitizer hit his eyes, a sense of apprehension struck me.

David Brooks argues, in his essay “What Suffering Does”, that pain often gives people a new outlook and possibly even a new path in life. He explains that suffering can help people see their lives from an outsider’s perspective, discover new depths of their character, and often find new paths: “The grief of having lost a loved one smashes through what they thought was the bottom floor of their personality, revealing an area below,” (Brooks 286). Brooks in this passage describes how suffering can enhance a person’s character. As cliché as it sounds, hardships can, in fact,

We were engendered to live and interact with others because that’s what makes our lives consequential. In our world, there are many perpetual malefactions of human suffering that cadge for people’s attention. Surprisingly, not many of us avail others in any way, shape, or form and that might be due to different factors that circumvent us. Sundry authors distributed their opinion through articles and documentaries about the causes and effects of human suffering. During times of distress and suffering, people often times react in an unresponsive and careless manner which results in reinforcing the enemy, and perpetrators of iniquity.

The most difficult type of pain to heal is the type that cannot be seen. While cuts and scrapes can easily be treated with Neosporin, emotional wounds can’t. Emotional pain is harder to recognize and easier to hide. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the characters of Blanche and Stanley both battle their emotional pain through the use of self medication. The two characters are not fully self aware of their weaknesses, similarly to the narrator of Billy Collin’s Poem, On Turning Ten. Both Blanche and Stanley rely on alcohol to hide and numb their pain.

If one learns about the issues that cause one mental or physical injury, one can prevent much misery in life and nurture vitality. For example when Deborah discovers that she does not have cancer it comes as an enormous relief to her; ‘Now you tell me after all these years!’ Deborah yelled. ‘Thank God, cause I was wonderin!’ (265).

Annie Dillard’s word choice acknowledges her intentional awareness of and lingering confusion about suffering by ruminating daily about unexplainable yet , inevitable suffering. Dillard expresses her cognizance of suffering by contacting Alan McDonald, a burn victim for the second time in his life, by and writing him an arbitrary letter. Dillard recalls, “I do not even know if he lived. I wrote him a letter at the time, cringing” (Dillard, 1982, p. 101). In this passage, Dillard conveys her difficulty in expressing empathy by employing the

Louie got more than his fair share in suffering. Whether it was the boys from school pelting him with rocks and punching him, being attacked by a mob of men during a race, or being treated worse than one would ever want to imagine as a Japanese prisoner of war, Louie was well acquainted to suffering. Louie’s motto was “A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain. (1.4.20)” Louie’s suffering can show us a lot. Everything that he has been through makes our suffering seem so menial. But just because most of us have been through less does not mean it hurts less, and we can learn from Louie’s suffering. If Louie can be in a plane crash, strafed by a bomber, attached by sharks, cast away on a raft, and held as a prisoner or war and make it out okay, then we surely can as

“You’re a success, aren’t you? Are you content?”, is the question Biff asks his brother, Happy and he heedlessly responds with, “Hell, no!”. Throughout the Death of a Salesman, Happy Loman is seen as this tall and powerful man but, on the inside he is very unhappy with himself. It would seem elusive if he was happy with himself when he responded to Biff with a “no”, unless he is truly unhappy. From the first few pages of this play, it foreshadows the struggles Happy goes through in order to be happy. He is unsatisfied and lonely, seeks the approval/attention from his father, Willy Loman, and he is a mirror reflection of his father. Taking in consideration of these factors will shed light on why Happy Loman is

There was a man who gave up his life He traveled far and wide around the globe Leaving his son leaving his wife He spent years coast to coast on a boat Sometimes in understanding and sometimes in strife His agreement to fight and to defend His decision to love and sacrifice And in the end

(Ahmed, 2010) Because we read O’Brien’s body as a ‘sign of pain,’ (Ahmed, 2010, 24) the onlooker may become curious as the real life chronic illness is put on display before them. From an onlooker’s point of view, this may be an entirely new experience, making them question their own lived experience, and question what pain really is in relation to their own body. Alternatively, pain is connected with empathy and the audience may create an empathetic response in relation to what they have viewed. As an audience we cannot take the

How does one show his or her pain? Jonathan’s agony from the death of his father is

Nurses that listen to their patients, not only notice that they are physically hurt, but they can also notice their emotional wounds. The empathy of knowing that the patient is emotionally hurt is part of the spirituality connection. Therefore, they might need comfort. O’Brien (2001) states that, “ No other profession provides the opportunity to touch and be touched by the human spirit as does the practice of nursing. It is this intimacy that calls us to reverence: reverence for God as our creator and Lord…” (pg.110). Nurses have the privilege to connect with people in ways that no other profession may be able to provide. Since nurses are patients advocate, our duty is to connect them with their spiritual beliefs and

Pamela Cooper-White makes an interesting claim of how people suffer and how they should recover from their pain. White claims that suffering is the “meaning that we make or attempt to make our pain.” Then for someone to fully heal, “we must make meaning in relation to our pain.” It is not an easy task to heal from pain and suffering and it takes time to heal your wounds. Sadly, some people do not recover from their wounds, and digress from their lives and society because they cannot deal with the pain. Some people do not have a form of support or no one in their lives to help them cope with their pain. Further, White claims, “we need a witness in our lives to” become aware of our experience. Without this relationship, we will never fix ourselves

How many times do you drive your car, and just when you are about to approach the intersection or the stop sign, you begin to notice a pair of eyes staring at you?  You realize these are not just eyes, but these eyes are to a person who is down on his luck. You cannot begin to understand what tragedy has fallen on this unfortunate soul, but you can see a glimpse of sadness through their eyes.  Physically, this person barely has a shoe on, clothes are ripped, smells of sweat and blood, seems like they have not taken a shower in months and yet it is not the physical appearance that catches your attention; rather, it is the heavy burden that seems like a boulder which is weighing down those sad and dim eyes.  What do you do?  Do you get out and ask the person, what can I do for you today?  Can I buy you lunch?  Or better yet, can I buy you some clothes?  No, if you have a sense of decency, you would try to reach in your pocket or your compartment filled with change in the car and take a handful and give it to the person waiting on the side of the street. Or, do you pretend to not even see them, and think if you ignore what is in front of you, then those people and their problems would cease to exist?