HW 26 - Looking Back & Forward in the Unit

1. The United States is the only country in the western world without free medical health insurance. (Michael Moore – Sicko – 2007)
2. When a person is in a state in which they no longer have the ability to make choices on their own, others must step in to help guide them to make the right decision. However consent gets very confusing. (“Near Death” – Fredrick Wiseman -1989)
3. Our culture in many ways has lost touch with the rest of the world. We pity ourselves far more than necessary, we forget of the people who are actually suffering. (Mountains Beyond Mountains – Tracy Kidder – 2004)
4. We all have lost touch with our bodies. We rely on them to keep pumping and to keep moving. It isn’t till they stop pumping and stop moving that we begin to become concerned. “When you have an illness, the body you’ve been ignoring becomes crucial.” (Andy Snyder - 2010)
5. We shield ourselves away from death and go against nature in hope that we will succeed. Our goal is to live as long as possible, yet at a certain point breathing just might not be enough. (The unit as a whole)

Throughout this unit I have found all of the sources to be helpful. I found it interesting watching Sicko and then watching Near Death. The contrast between the two films was very prominent. It seems as though Moore approached it with the idea that every member involved in the United States health system is evil. While Wiseman took a more realistic approach and showed the audience a normal day in a hospital. In a sense you could say that Moore took a quote but then took out certain parts to make his point, while Wiseman just showed the quote in its entirely original form. I think it was important to see both interpretations of the system because it opened us to see the difference between ideas. Through this we were able to continue to think about which side was being more truthful.

I also found reading Mountains Beyond Mountains to be quite useful to my exploration of this unit. Although at the end it seemed that many of the ideas were being repeated it was interesting to understand how differently many cultures approach illness and dying. I found Farmer to be so ambitious and inspiring. I often would try to put myself in his shoes while reading and I just can’t imagine living the way he did. I think this book made me realize how easy I have it. If Farmer hadn’t walked into many of these people’s lives they probably would have had no hope. To them he was a god, yet I don’t think of my own doctor as that sort of figure. We have become so immune to the idea of having a doctor to help us at all time that we don’t realize how important and significant they are to our lives.

When we return from break I would like to explore the government’s role directly linked to the insurance companies, drug companies etc. After learning about the government’s relation to the food system in our country it seems as though they have much more power than we realize. I would also like to focus on religious aspects of illness and dying. Specifically how different people deal with the subject. Scientifically speaking I would like to understand how over the years certain cures to diseases have allowed us to live longer. I think the best way to explore these topics would be through having time to independently research them. Another good resource could be finding more documentaries that cover these topics.