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Patch Adams is my hero...
First a warning, this entry may be long depending on how much I decide to ramble. And now...
First, yesterday Patch Adams was at my university to speak for the kickoff event for the month of kindness. It was amazing. This man is the genious, like for reals. The movie does him no justice. He tried to kill himself when he was 17 and 2 years later left the mental hospital and changed the world. That is just, wow... He told us all about his hospital which basically offered free care to everyone. It was a house with lots of people with various disorders/diseases who formed a community to learn to heal together. They made no money, worked a zillion part-time jobs, and even had one of their member killed by a patient, and yet they still continued. Amazing. Patch uses his clowning to help people as much as he uses his knowledge as a doctor. Surprisingly, they never managed to get anyone to donate $ to their place. The movie didn't get him any money(stupid corporate america) and only now, after 33 years, are they finally going to be able to build a hospital and not just exist in a house. He was so inspiring.
He also makes trips with groups of clowns to various countries around the world to visit hospitals. So he showed us a clip of a video from when they went to Afghanistan this past March during the war. They went to various hospitals there and it was so sad. If you're squeamish, skip the next bit and come back in the next paragraph... They showed this one young girl who looked about 8 who had obviously been hit something. Her side was and black was black, bleeding all over and the doctors had her stretched on a table. They were trying to clean it up a bit and it was just awful. But got me the most was the noises she was making. It wasn't even screaming or crying. Almost like she was in so much pain it went beyond all that. All she could do was make these strangled grunts and whines and there was her mother in tears next to her. That's what war does to people. During all of this, one of the clowns comes in and proceeds to make soothing noises in an attempt to soothe her while another entered and played violin for her. And then you saw how powerful the caring is. The girl managed to clam down a bit with these other people in the room with her.
Later they showed other bits that, why not as sad, were just as profound. There were clips of children running and laughing while chasing a balloon around and disabled children being played with on a playground and just being kids. That was the power that Patch and his group had over the poor and dejected. And it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I was so happy I had gone to the presentation. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, GO!!! It's so worth it.
I was gonna write about my day, but now it all seems so trivial and I think I'll just update tomorrow. Bye...
First, yesterday Patch Adams was at my university to speak for the kickoff event for the month of kindness. It was amazing. This man is the genious, like for reals. The movie does him no justice. He tried to kill himself when he was 17 and 2 years later left the mental hospital and changed the world. That is just, wow... He told us all about his hospital which basically offered free care to everyone. It was a house with lots of people with various disorders/diseases who formed a community to learn to heal together. They made no money, worked a zillion part-time jobs, and even had one of their member killed by a patient, and yet they still continued. Amazing. Patch uses his clowning to help people as much as he uses his knowledge as a doctor. Surprisingly, they never managed to get anyone to donate $ to their place. The movie didn't get him any money(stupid corporate america) and only now, after 33 years, are they finally going to be able to build a hospital and not just exist in a house. He was so inspiring.
He also makes trips with groups of clowns to various countries around the world to visit hospitals. So he showed us a clip of a video from when they went to Afghanistan this past March during the war. They went to various hospitals there and it was so sad. If you're squeamish, skip the next bit and come back in the next paragraph... They showed this one young girl who looked about 8 who had obviously been hit something. Her side was and black was black, bleeding all over and the doctors had her stretched on a table. They were trying to clean it up a bit and it was just awful. But got me the most was the noises she was making. It wasn't even screaming or crying. Almost like she was in so much pain it went beyond all that. All she could do was make these strangled grunts and whines and there was her mother in tears next to her. That's what war does to people. During all of this, one of the clowns comes in and proceeds to make soothing noises in an attempt to soothe her while another entered and played violin for her. And then you saw how powerful the caring is. The girl managed to clam down a bit with these other people in the room with her.
Later they showed other bits that, why not as sad, were just as profound. There were clips of children running and laughing while chasing a balloon around and disabled children being played with on a playground and just being kids. That was the power that Patch and his group had over the poor and dejected. And it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I was so happy I had gone to the presentation. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, GO!!! It's so worth it.
I was gonna write about my day, but now it all seems so trivial and I think I'll just update tomorrow. Bye...