How Doctors Die by Ken Murray

More Medicine = More Pain

"True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Rather than being the one who will do anything to live longer, it is better to enjoy what you already have.
Source: http://jordan.medicaltourism.com/upload/pages/medical-procedures-and-treatments.jpg

Ken Murray, the author of How Doctors Die, sends a message to his readers to dissuade them from being advocates of extensive medical care. Through the use of several anecdotes, Murray shows how medical care is futile when death is looming and explains the reasoning behind why suffering patients request medical treatments. Though the treatments may marginally prolong a patient's life, they do not rid the patient of his/her suffering, according to Murray. In contrast to the typical patient, a doctor would elect to have little or no medical treatments. Murray claims that doctors often abstain from extensive medical care not only because of its costs, but also because they understand the capabilities and limitations of modern medicine. Rather than spending a lot of time in hospitals, doctors prefer enjoy the rest of their lives with family or friends. Ken Murray, a retired physician himself, is qualified to speak about his experiences and express his opinions. He understands the people’s need to live longer and he respects that. The fact that constantly bemuses him is the need of extra suffering in order to do so. Murray firmly supports the idea that “almost anyone can find a way to die in peace at home” (Murray 235). Explicitly channeling his message to an audience of suffering patients, Murray advises them to spend their time wisely and not go through any medical treatments. The readers, ignorant of a doctor’s perspective on this situation, are required to listen to Murray. By going through many anecdotes about his former patients and his cousins, Murray brilliantly describes death and offers “recommendations” on how to spend the final years of your life. Murray makes his essay very personal and relatable with his use of anecdotes, allowing readers to relate to his stories. By complementing his anecdotes with pathos, Murray appeals to the reader's emotion by describing the suffering that patients go through when they stay in hospitals all day. With a combination of anecdotes and ethos, Murray was able to successfully show the restraints of modern medication and admonish his readers from resorting to extensive medical treatments.

Who Are You and What Are You Doing by Mark Edmundson

The Dream School

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you." - Oprah Winfrey
Everyone's dream school is Harvard, but not everyone is accepted there through hard work and dedication. Instead, Harvard looks for passionate students who follow their dreams.
Source: http://theblackberryalarmclock.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/harvard-university-usa-44324.jpg

Edmundson, a college professor and the author of Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here, published his work in The Oxford American to express his opinion about how students should pursue higher education. Starting off his essay, Edmundson describes the flaws in society and how society influences people to pursue a career not suitable for them. Society believes that in order to become the best, you need to “work hard, get good grades, listen to your teachers, get along with people around you, and emerge in four years as an educated young man or woman.” (Edmundson 89). However, Edmundson does not believe in that philosophy. Instead, he firmly defends that “education is about finding out what form of work for you is close to being play – work you do so easily that it restores you as you go” (Edmundson 100).  He presents anecdotes about how he made his career decision, how his students have made theirs, and how students have regretted/accepted their career decisions. At the end of his essay, Edmundson presented an anecdote of a student who eschewed medical school and followed his dream to become a teacher. In addition to his anecdotes that portray his philosophies, he consistently alludes to Emerson and Freud, two prolific writers who shaped Edmundson’s reasonings and arguments in his essay. By incorporating anecdotes and allusions, Edmundson crafted an essay that urges college students to follow a path that they believe is right for them. While his anecdotes educate readers about making the right career decisions, Edmundson's allusions give readers a "more expert" opinion about the philosophies presented in the essay. Edmundson, speaking from experience, knows the life of a college student because he himself was a student at one point. Now he is a professor teaching English who also writes about his philosophies at the same time. Edmundson is a convincing writer who successfully showed his message to his readers through anecdotes, allusions, and wisdom.

My Husband/My Father by David J. Lawless

A Fading Mind

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." - Aristotle
The erasing of the word "memory" represents the fading memories of people with dementia. Eventually, memories start to disappear and everything becomes clouded. However, the effects of dementia do not interfere with love.
Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/the-power-of-the-memory-molecule_1.jpg

My Husband/My Father is an acutely personal story about the daily life of an elderly couple with a wife who is suffering from dementia. On a daily basis, the wife has to take a plethora of pills in order to regulate her blood flow and wear a nitro patch to regulate her heartbeat. On top of her medical issues, the wife asks a breadth of questions regarding the whereabouts of her parents and siblings, burdening her husband with more difficulties. When her enigmatic, anachronous memories take her over, she believes that she is in Madrid, is not married and does not have kids, and that her parents are still alive. At one point, the wife even called the police to report an intruder, who in fact was her husband. She could not recognize him. Surprisingly, after all these inconvenient events, the husband lovingly stays with his wife, answers her repetitive questions, and pacifies her when she experiences trauma. This skillfully constructed anecdote, written in third person to allow the reader to understand both the husband and wife’s situation, makes for one of the most awe-inspiring expressions of marital love ever written about. David Lawless aptly combines his experiences living with his wife with an abundance dialogue to show his readers the support he, as the husband, gives to his wife through her difficulties. Nowadays, divorce has become extremely common and Lawless is not an advocate of divorce. By presenting an anecdote of a 50 yearlong marriage, Lawless sends a message to his married readers to never apply for divorce. Additionally, Lawless does an amazing job incorporating pathos and making the reader empathize with the husband through dialogue. This boosts the reader’s understanding of the husband, amplifying Lawless’ purpose to the reader. David Lawless successfully accomplished in conveying his message through the experiences that the husband faced in the anecdote, making it lucid that divorce and separation are never routes for him to take. Lawless ascribed this couple as the perfect pair glued together by love, and doing so allowed Lawless to achieve his purpose. 

A Good Short Life by Dudley Clendinen

A Family of Happiness

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." - Dalai Lama
Spending time with family always brings happiness. When death is imminent, it would be better to spend the final days of life happily with people who care.
Source: http://www.ffbchammond.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Family.jpg

In A Good Short Life, Dudley Clendinen, a New York Times journalist, describes his grief and happiness as he suffered from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), a disease that still has no cure. Living for over 66 years, Clendinen offers short anecdotes about his major struggles and his moments of euphoria. Clendinen describes his fragmented, broken self as an emaciated old man who is in the pursuit of happiness. After neurologists gave Clendinen a diagnosis of his situation in November 2010, he reluctantly digested the fact that death was imminent. However, knowing that he was prepared for the end, he recalled the many joyous moments he had spent with his family and friends. He even made his life analogous to a song called “Dance Me to the End of Love” because he is currently “in the last rhythms of his life” (Clendinen 67). Although Clendinen has suffered with ALS since birth, he shows that anyone can still find joy. By being with family, friends, and people who care, Clendinen found his happiness. He believes that the best time to die is when you are happy, are satisfied with life, and are ready to end all the suffering. Understanding that people living with an incurable disease are unable to cope with it, Clendinen told his story. Directing his message to people inflicted with such diseases, Clendinen assures that being hedonistic is the best way to live life. He provides a message directly derived from his experiences, making him a resourceful person. The premise of this essay is to show how to be happy through a life of suffering, and Clendinen did so through the use of anecdotes and analogies. Clendinen’s anecdotes provide short stories about his feelings, and to underscore his message, he adds analogies by relating his feelings to music or things that he has done. This allows readers comprehend his experiences. Clendinen’s description of his life was so moving and interesting that he successfully accomplished his purpose of showing how people can still be happy through lives of suffering.

Killing My Body to Save My Mind by Lauren Slater

I Love Eating!

"Find a place where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain." - Joseph Campbell
Depression has ruined the lives of many people, and those people are unable to find joy. Through eating, however, this man was able to appreciate the beauty of life once again.
Source: http://archive.constantcontact.com/ 

Killing My Body to Save My Mind by Lauren Slater is an anecdote that shows the author’s transition from despondence to jubilation, but at a cost. Slater has taken many anti-depressant pills, but none have worked. One day, she came upon Zyprexa, a pill that significantly elevated her mood, allowing Slater to find happiness in life once again. However, Slater did not expect Zyprexa to lead to her obesity. The drug increased her appetite, causing Slater to have a wild obsession for food, which eventually resulted in high cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Slater was also informed that her risk of heart disease and diabetes would increase. The only issue is that the pill that was killing her body was also saving her mind. She had to choose between physical health and mental health, and Slater chose the latter. Having done so, Slater showed readers the benefits that came out of making sacrifices and accepting change. Many people today are afraid to change because of the potential ramifications of doing so. Having first hand experience with change and sacrifice, Slater assured her readers that only good can come out of transforming your life. By using an anecdote, Slater was able to immerse the reader into a realistic and engaging story about a pivotal event in her life, allowing the author to successfully achieve her purpose. Readers are able to relate to Slater’s experience because even the readers are definitely disappointed with some aspects of their lives. With a story of how her life was before and after, Slater comprehensively described how much better her life has become after change and sacrifice. To the readers, those who are afraid to change, Slater made sure to clarify that change is necessary for a jovial life. Repeatedly, Slater emphasized how happy she was with her new life and her descriptions are convincing enough to curtail her readers’ fear of change, which demonstrates her success in conveying her message.