Published in:
01-03-2017 | Editorial
Borrowing from Strength
Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 3/2017
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On my first day of medical school, a fourth year student was called to the podium to tell a story. He looked at us kindly and began.…A man descends to the afterworld and is confronted by two rooms. He enters the first room and sees rows of banquet tables spread lavishly with every kind of food and drink imaginable. Yet the people are in anguish. When the man looks closer he sees why. Their arms are locked in rigid splints, making it impossible for them to bring anything from hand to mouth. The wailing and thrashing are overwhelming. Soon the man has had enough. He moves to the second room.The second room is uncannily similar to the first: the banquet tables, the sumptuous offerings, the people with their arms locked in splints. Yet there is no wailing or thrashing. Instead there are sounds of laughter, merriment, and joy. The man is dumbfounded. He turns to the one of the inhabitants and asks how can the people be so happy under such manifestly trying conditions.“Here,” the inhabitant of the second room responds, “we feed each other.”