25/07/2024
Travels with Lowell
“It was a perfect, sunny day, and we passed an open-air cafe, where at one sidewalk table, we saw a young woman bringing a delicious-looking hamburger to her mouth. Lowell and I felt our mouths watering, but Shane leapt into action and, with a lightning-quick lunge, took a large bite out of her hamburger before it reached her mouth.
The woman was stunned, as were her companions – but then she broke out into laughter.” – Everything in Its Place
This is an anecdote that happened during one of Oliver Sack’s travels with a touretter.
Oliver Sacks is a neurologist and author of many books including “Awakening,” which was made into a movie with the same title.
Although his works are of his expertise, his language captures hearts of many people with his intriguing description of his time spent with his patients. The reason why his writing touches us is his compassion shown to his patients, I think. To him, his patients were his friends. He spent a lot of time with them and even traveled with some of them.
He was a warm-hearted man because, I think, he himself had a sorrow and solitude deep in his heart. His brother was diagnosed schizophrenic when he was young and Oliver was close to him.
He was gay. Being gay in those days was something that was supposed to hide, something even that had to be “treated.”
“I am shy in ordinary social contexts; I am not able to ‘chat’ with any ease; I have difficulty recognizing people…,” he writes in his “On the Move.”
Oliver Sacks had experienced so much grief and hardship, which had lingered all his life.
Travels with Lowell
“It was a perfect, sunny day, and we passed an open-air cafe, where at one sidewalk table, we saw a young woman bringing a delicious-looking hamburger to her mouth. Lowell and I felt our mouths watering, but Shane leapt into action and, with a lightning-quick lunge, took a large bite out of her hamburger before it reached her mouth.
The woman was stunned, as were her companions – but then she broke out into laughter.” – Everything in Its Place
This is an anecdote that happened during one of Oliver Sack’s travels with a touretter.
Oliver Sacks is a neurologist and author of many books including “Awakening,” which was made into a movie with the same title.
Although his works are of his expertise, his language captures hearts of many people with his intriguing description of his time spent with his patients. The reason why his writing touches us is his compassion shown to his patients, I think. To him, his patients were his friends. He spent a lot of time with them and even traveled with some of them.
He was a warm-hearted man because, I think, he himself had a sorrow and solitude deep in his heart. His brother was diagnosed schizophrenic when he was young and Oliver was close to him.
He was gay. Being gay in those days was something that was supposed to hide, something even that had to be “treated.”
“I am shy in ordinary social contexts; I am not able to ‘chat’ with any ease; I have difficulty recognizing people…,” he writes in his “On the Move.”
Oliver Sacks had experienced so much grief and hardship, which had lingered all his life.
Sadness hides behind your laughter. The more you go through difficulties, the more compassionate you would become.
