Pictured: Surgeon Bruno Dehaye, M.D. and unknown patient, Eastern Cambodia circa 1975.

Photo by Sebastião Salgado, from The Face of Mercy – A Photographic History of Medicine at War

When I look at this photograph, I feel both terrified and awe-struck.

As debates about the practice of modern medicine continue to swirl around my country, this is my kind of memento mori: When I die, it’s possible that I may spend my last moment with a man or woman like this surgeon, lying on a table while they look over me trying to keep my body working. I can’t know how I might feel at that moment, but I know that right now I feel so grateful that as a group, contemporary people choose to meet death together. Rather than look away, we adjust the light so that we may see.

A very old person once said, “Be a light unto yourself.” When my light fails, it’s somehow comforting to know that another person, perhaps even a stranger, will continue to shine the light for me.

This entry was posted by jon on Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 9:03 pm and is filed under journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.