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A quickly packed emergency bag at our feet. Victor’s art supplies, my laptop, the unread newspaper from last Sunday. Toilet bags, change of clothes, almonds, banana, bottle of water. We are ready for anything, this is not the first time.
Victor has a simple infection. It may be harmless and can be controlled with antibiotics, perhaps even at home. It can also develop into life-threatening blood poisoning, which happens all the time.
I no longer faint when the doctor tells me I need to prepare for the worst. I’ve heard this too many times. Victor calls it “my life as a library book: the loan period is constantly extended by three months.”
Yes, in San Francisco you can rent 50 books at a time and keep them for as long as you like. And it’s free. Libraries are the only government institutions that operate here. But I’m distracting. Of course I’m distracting.
Victor closed his eyes: he was too tired to draw. Or talk to me. To make me laugh. The more unpleasant the situation, the more absurd his jokes. Today he is silent. At this moment I could think about many things, such as death. Instead, I’m thinking about a new system in the garage that requires exact payment upfront. What nonsense, I think. Who knows when he’ll get out of here again?
Ignorance reigns in the land of the sick. I recently explained this to a friend whose husband was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, which Victor struggled with for almost 20 years. So I know a lot about this, but my friend didn’t need medical advice.
She needed a guide in this strange country, the land of the sick. No one visits it voluntarily, no one goes there alone. Relatives, loved ones, they come with us, whether they want it or not. Victor and I are regular guests here. Do we know each other.
This is an inconvenient area, but full of surprises and hidden beauties. This country contains a treasure of human compassion that I have never known. Here I experienced the notorious friendliness of strangers. I was very lucky to come to this country with Victor, the best guide I can think of. The first thing I learned here is that I don’t know anything. I can’t know anything. Of course, this applies everywhere, not just here.
This is one of the fundamental philosophical discoveries of our culture, Buddhist wisdom, and human experience. But we cannot ignore them here. I mostly see it as a challenge. It is very difficult to bear this ignorance. It’s easier to attribute my disappointment to the parking meter than to the point: we don’t know why we’re here in this country, how long we’ll stay, or whether we’ll even be able to get out.
Today, yes. Today Victor will be examined, treated and sent home with new medicine. We escaped again. Later I buy myself a bright bouquet of flowers. “You also need to think about yourself,” I explained to my friend. This is usually easier said than done. But sometimes it’s really simple.
Source: Blick
I am David Miller, a highly experienced news reporter and author for 24 Instant News. I specialize in opinion pieces and have written extensively on current events, politics, social issues, and more. My writing has been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and BBC News. I strive to be fair-minded while also producing thought-provoking content that encourages readers to engage with the topics I discuss.
