[Dialogue] Fwd: My best witness so far

[Richard Alton]

Dear Colleagues, I loved Brian's witness. I think to get us started we
should all put up our best witness we have done so far- this is mine- love
the phrase to keep the world sane when it falls apart. Dick

Fuck It, I am 70

So, this is my 70th birthday witness: I am actually writing this is on my
way to Nepal to help prep the 2012 Nepal ICAI Conference. I will stay 3
weeks afterwards with Sally Stovall joining me to do two weeks of trekking;
a little adventure for entering this 70th decade which I assume will be
wild. To celebrate 70 in Nepal, a country which is considered the center of
the religious world, seems appropriate as I do consider myself religious.
Buddha was born here and I want to get a taste of Nepal’s fabulous
spiritual stew.

But this getting older has been on my mind a lot lately. Just the number of
funerals is enough to catch one’s attention.

I was talking to a person from our Church- just general chit-chat and she
mentioned that she had come up on two great books: How We Die and The Art
of Aging by Professor Sherwin Nuland, a medical professor at Yale. Now this
grabbed my attention because both seemed topics that one should be on top
of in this new 70th decade. You will not get through this decade without
dealing with these two topics. So I read the two books- not bad- some great
stories but nothing earth shattering.

But, I was intrigued by the author so I googled him. First, Nuland is a
surgeon and an associate professor at Yale. I happened to see that he had
just done a TED video. Now TED videos are very intriguing. They are to be
by famous people who talk on a topic they have never talked about before.
So I clicked on Nuland’s video.

He starts by saying he wants to talk about electric shocks which
immediately catches my attention since my father had a nervous breakdown
when the 5th kid came highly unexpectedly. Dad was sent off to a sanatorium
and given electric shock that kick started his life again.

So, Nuland starts off by talking about how electric shock was discovered as
a treatment. Doctors in Italy noticed that depressed people that also had
seizures seemed to get better after a seizure. So these researchers went to
the police and asked them to bring someone who seems extremely depressed or
pretty out of it.

So they brought a man who was unable to communicate and seem to be in a
stupor. They hooked him up to a wire from the electrical outlet and gave
him a short burst . The man suddenly jerks up,” what the fuck are you
assholes doing?”

Now, Nuland says he is not telling this to you for your academic knowledge
but this is very personal. In the middle of his life he was a surgeon at
Yale when he started a very difficult period in his life. His wife and he
were barely able to stand each other..he became extremely depressed..he did
not even have enough energy to turn down the bed covers and could not get
out of bed until noon..his surgery work was getting less and lessr..who
wants to be operated on by a depressed surgeon? So he went to his doctor
and they decided to have him committed to a mental institution. They tried
everything to help him, but nothing worked. Finally, the doctors decided to
perform a lobotomy as the last possibility. But luckily, he had an intern
who was his supervisor and he spoke up..” why not try electrical shock?”

Ok, the doctors agreed, so they started the first treatment of shocks and
just at the end Nuland begins to feel something. The second round of shocks
he begins to feel colors and the grayness of his life started to lift.
Nuland relates that his compulsions and dryness of life was a long struggle
to control but he did it. One of the tricks of compulsions is that you have
to have keys that you use once you begin to find yourself starting to fall
or the old compulsions start in again. Nuland, decided his phase would be Fuck
It. He still uses this phrase to watch over his psychic.

Nuland, ends his presentation by looking at the audience and saying, “I
look at this audience and it seems you are about in your 30s and maybe 40s
and are at the top of your game. Well, I want you to know that things will
go wrong and you will fall in a hole...and I just want you to know recovery
is possible, a resurrection is possible.”

I, Dick, was resurrected in my early 20s and am counting on it in my 70s.

PS, the story on Nuland is a true story. Just watch the video..google TED
and look for Sherwin Nuland. And, theologically, it is a true story because
it is the way life is!

-- 
Richard H. T. Alton
One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF)
Green Community Connections
Interfaith Green Network
T: 773.344.7172
richard.alton at gmail.com
**Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2020, March 6-15*
http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org

Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2


-- 
Richard H. T. Alton
One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF)
Green Community Connections
Interfaith Green Network
T: 773.344.7172
richard.alton at gmail.com
**Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2020, March 6-15*
http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org

Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
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