Dr. Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air

“Learning is the making of meaning” (Elbow, 2004). I chose this quote because I believe in what the author is saying. I believe that students create meaning out of what they are learning. Students use their previously gained knowledge on a subject, however, when learning a new concept, it adds to their knowledge base. Teachers need to help student achieve and understand the meaning of what they are learning.

When Breath Becomes Air: Theme Analysis “I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.” (Aquino). This familiar statement is further explore by Paul Kalanithi in his 2016 autobiography When Breath Becomes Air, which follows his journey to become a doctor and his own battle against cancer. As a young man, Paul Kalanithi struggles with choosing his career and had to switch his major due to his passion. The book then provides a glimpse into life of Kalanithi as a cancer patient as well as a doctor and how his family’s supports guided him through tough times.

Learning and development can also help individuals plan future career plans and open more career opportunities for themselves.

This essay is to demonstrate that I understand my own roles and responsibilities in lifelong learning.

I believe that one should constantly learn and seek new skills and information since it enhances one’s understanding of the world, provide opportunities, and develop skills. Committed to learning, I am willing to spend the necessary time to cultivate my mind in the quest for knowledge and I achieved this through diligence, perseverance, discipline, and by providing the best work possible in the workplace around me. This ambition to push for excellence would be a beneficial trait to have in the future, for I still strive to put quality into everything I do, even when I do not receive any recognition or praise, and this attitude would help me make rapid strides not only in my academic career but my life overall.

Yet even with these realizations that delve into the deeper meaning of education, modern education is still calling for simple measurable outcomes and continues to be geared towards specific employment ideas. This model of education is blatantly inadequate though. Many students today will end up holding jobs not yet invented in fields not yet discovered, so the teaching of answers to today’s questions is utterly useless. Albert Einstein once said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” and this statement reigns true throughout time. To continue academic success, the education system needs to impart a mastery of one’s own mind that allows students to not only answer current questions but also to pose questions that will shape the future world.

Cancer is a word that everyone has heard and an illness that has affected everyone. It is a heavy topic that is often acknowledged but not thoroughly discussed. When Breathing Becomes Air, a book written by Dr. Paul Kalanithi and finished by his wife, goes into details with the feelings of being diagnosed with cancer. Michael Geron reviews this book in his opinion article, “Giving Cancer a First-Person Voice.” Gerson persuades his audience to read Dr. Kalanithi’s book through a balanced and effective use of the different appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos.

A breath of fresh air is the first book written by Amulya Malladi. In 1984, when she was nine years old, her father was posted in the city of Bhopal. On the third of December, 1983 the city suffered The Bhopal Gas Tragedy that killed many people. When this gas tragedy occurred, she along with her family was staying at the Army Center which was a few kilometers away from the plant. Due to the wind that blew in a direction opposite to theirs, they remained unaffected by the gas leak. In the last half of the year 1984, she faced the Assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that led the country’s division in the name of religion and made her come to terms with the finality of death.

Paul Kalanithi wore many hats. He was a son, a husband, a father, a surgeon and a writer who documented his life in a memoir entitled When Breath Becomes Air. This book was a recollection of his life before and after being diagnosed with terminal cancer and he takes the reader down his road of self discovery and exploring his own mortality. Unfortunately, this work was published posthumously as Paul passed away in March of 2015, however during his time on this planet he showed that he was a good person by living a moral life. By following the steps that lead to moral decisions, living a deontological lifestyle and respecting the sanctity of his marriage he truly embodied major concepts in this course.

Naturally, my eagerness to learn came about at a very young age. I always wanted to know how the human body worked. Growing up in the age of YouTube, I often poured over countless hours of videos learning simple concepts that I could easily understand at that time. As I grew I was always looking to learn something new. Finally, in high school I took advantage of College Now, a program where students in high school had access to college classes on a college campus while receiving college credits. While I was there, I earned a Certificate in Computer Science from CUNY Queens College. This eagerness to learn came about of a very simple reason. My parents had high aspirations for me since no one on either side of their families had ever gone beyond a high school education. They wanted me to be the first in the family to achieve a Bachelor’s degree. Finally in 2012, I graduated from St. Johns University with a

"The more we know the world around us, the more successful we will be." This quote, from the introduction of my high school chemistry book, was my driving force as a teenager to attend college. My expectations of college were to gain insight into a world that I had not yet discovered. I had high aspirations of receiving a good education and obtaining a good job when I graduated. But four years later when graduation day arrived, I felt unfulfilled. In evaluating my education, I realized that I learned how to get good, but not great grades. I learned how to study to make the most of my time. The focus I shared with many of my peers was not always to appreciate the information received, but rather,

‘Strategies for Lifelong Learning’ has been unexpectedly and therapeutically revealing. Throughout our correspondence we’ve shared personal, and professional challenges, and wins. In doing so, I’ve come to realize strengths and areas for improvement, which is why I chose to discuss the second habit from the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, titled; ‘Begin With the End in Mind’.

Constantly learning and growing in our lifetime, allows us to gain an understanding of the world around us. Analyzing, admiring and reaching for what the world has to offer, we are able to

As Daniel J. Boorstin said, “Education is learning what you didn 't even know you didn 't know.”

I have always been a thinker, however throughout my coursework; I have mainly focused on sharpening my critical analysis skills as psychology student. It is true that I challenged myself to get into deeper meaning of each of the course as possible in order to understand the meaning and practice it well. It is often believed that students need to expect that they must graduate with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to get engage in their professional career (Hughes & Youngson, 2009). I took this statement seriously and tried to cover all the major aspects of my learning. My module covered counselling skills, study skills, introduction to developmental psychology, and introduction to biological and cognitive psychology. While reviewing my Personal