https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEvsDuJYEnI
There’s a good reason why Into the Mystic is a great song for Patch Adams, and it can be found in the upbeat nature of the song. Patch was a man at the end of his rope at one point until he discovered he had a natural talent for healing people through the power of laughter, which is a lot stronger than many people give it credit for being. It’s an ethereal thing really, something you can’t always see unless you look at the results. But it’s a curative that still has a lot of benefits that modern medicine can’t always account for.
Laughter is something that is hard to imagine is possible at times, particularly when one is laid up in a hospital bed for days, weeks, even months or years on end. But Patch Adams showed that treating the disease is always an uncertain fight that could end in a win or a loss. But treating the individual, making sure that they’re put at ease as much as possible, is a win every time it’s attempted. He was bold enough to take an unconventional route and create a result out of it that was not fully accepted by many but was certainly appreciated by those whose lives he touched. Conventional medicine is a great thing, it’s what keeps a lot of people going, but it’s not always the best option to cheer a person up. It’s not the answer that people want to hear when they might have to go on this or that pill.
Patch Adams didn’t follow the rules at all times and for some people that’s a huge problem. It means he was a risk to take on, a risk to depend on, and someone that might have thought that the rules didn’t apply to him. But unfortunately for those that are so bound by the system and unable to conceive of a life outside of it that they can’t fully comprehend just what Patch was trying to do. It’s not enough to just treat the individual for their disease. They aren’t defined by their ailment, nor are they bound to forget just what it’s like to live with it if you give them an uncertain diagnosis as to how they can get better. But if you manage to get to know them on a more personal level then it becomes a matter of friends, or at least acquaintances, speaking with one another rather than a cold and clinical individual on the other side of the desk reading statistics off of a clipboard.
Doctors have a hard job, but it’s made even more difficult when they begin to care about their patients. The thought of losing them becomes intolerable, and the idea of getting too close is heartbreaking. But that’s the job, just like anyone else’s, and they chose to do it. Patch Adams managed to show people that it’s okay to care about others, and that it’s okay to let them know about it. That’s being human.
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