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The nicest person I've ever seen
How do you feel if you enter a room full of balloons that you can’t be able to even see the person next to you? How do you react if you see your doctor wears a clown outfit while examining you? How do you feel if you go to a hospital, and instead of being afraid, you have to play games, listen to funny jokes, paint or even plant flowers?
All these sound unreal. At least, they sound unreal to me while watching a movie, “Patch Adams”. I wanted to make sure if this is only a movie or was real because the movie claimed that it is based on a true story.
The movie is about a medical doctor who uses humour and laughter to cure his patients. He personally is a very funny person. When he wanted to date his girlfriend, he fills a room with so many balloons that nobody could see the person beside, however, when someone moves, others realize the movement. Not only he is a very funny person, but also he is very brave and unique. In the hospital he was working, the principal didn’t like the way he cures the patients, so, he accused Mr. Adams of not being able to cure patients properly, and filed a complaint against him to court. After investigations, court finally accused Mr. Adams as someone who is “Excessively happy.” But, this didn’t prevent him from pursuing what he truly believes. He later established his own hospital with the help of his friends. The hospital, now, is in West Virginia and runs by volunteers. Patients don’t pay a penny to be cured and the way they are treated is based on humour and laughter.
I moved by the movie so much that immediately after watching, I searched through Google to see if this person really exists on earth or not. Happily, I found Mr. Adams’ website and some of his interviews on You Tube. If you are interested, you can see his website here,http://patchadams.org/. I also leave one of his interviews to realize Mr. Adams is even more than what we see in the movie, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKvGNsDZv4. In the movie, Robin Williams plays as Mr. Adams. Mr. Adams himself doesn’t like the movie and says that the movie doesn’t emphasize on what he is most concern about, that is, being compassionate about people and giving love to human beings. He believes the movie only shows him as a funny doctor.
I was so delightful that I finally found my role model in medicine. My photography professor at University of Toronto, where I’m studying, asked students to take a self-portrait as an assignment. I remembered my role model, Mr. Adams, and I thought: “Why don’t I dress like a clown for my self-portrait?” As such, I painted my face, made my red nose and used a red ribbon as my bow tie along with a white shirt. And, lastly, I showed my self-portrait to the class. My professor got so surprised, however, no one in the class laughed. My professor asked if I was concerned about showing my clown picture to the class. I said: “No, I want to be like Mr. Adams curing my patients with a clown outfit and this is a good start to see how I feel about it”
I think Mr. Adams is the nicest person I’ve ever seen in my life. Many people talk about humanitarian actions and some do something about it. However, he is the one who doesn’t do all these things for attaining fame or pretending, but for the sake of patients without expecting anything or collecting money in return. He said in one of his lectures:” I don’t have any materialistic possessions in this world, but I’m the happiest and most liberated person.”
Comments
Mr. Bob, thanks a lot for your nice comment and kind words. I read a quote which I don't remember who said that , it said "when you have enemy, it means that you standed up for something worthwhile." I think Mr. Adams has strong character. Thanks a lot.
Dear Zahra, thanks a lot for your lovely comment and glad you liked it.
Dear Grace, thanks a lot for your nice comment and happy to see you again. Actually, I really liked to attach my photo to this blog ,but for my safety, it's better not to do that.
I love Patch Adams and your story about him. The movie was excellent and showed how people in a profession can become closed minded about new ideas and protective about what they feel is proper. Patch took their ideas about proper medicine and mixed them with his own new ways of treating people. That made enemies for him of many of the doctors who wouldn't open their minds to new ideas.
Wow! I really enjoyed reading your post. I have watched that movie, but I didn't know the real Mr. Adams. I also think that what today is mostly needed is being happy and mentally being cured. Once I visited the children department of a hospital in our city. The walls were nicely painted. The pooh's picture and other cartoon characters were all there with happy faces on the walls. But I think that it was not enough at all! The atmosphere there was like a dead zone. I do not think that sick children there were happy.
Some people experience long periods of sickness mostly because of their bad mood. The ones around them are mostly negative and do not happily treat them. Even sometimes they add to their pain.
The hospital I mentioned has a very heavily sad atmosphere. I know that patient are really experiencing pain, but isn't there any way to distract them at least mentally from the negative thoughts about their sickness?
I do not know how Mr. Adams and his team are working in this field professionally, but I do know that being compassionate to a sick person is not just expressing your sorrow to them!
Anyway, I think that you've chosen a really pretty person to talk about here.
Be well and happy.
Thanks.
:)
Fantastic paragraphs! I enjoy reading your blog, Nafis!
I wonder if we are lucky enough to take a look at your self-portrait with a clown outfit on our EC photo gallery someday. :D
Dear Tara, thanks a million times for encouraging words and taking your time leaving a comment. I always have doubt about that structure. It would be like " Not only is he very funny person, but also is he very brave and unique."
Excellent post! I saw this movie a long time ago. I love Robin Williams. It was really interesting to hear the real history of this character, a true role model for you! Your paragraphs are very pretty!
Correction: "Not only...but also..." is a tricky structure to learn because you have to think about inversion. Can you correct this sentence? (We will try to get a helpful resource about this on EC soon.)
Not only he is a very funny person, but also he is very brave and unique.
Dear Sahar, you are more than welcome. I'm glad you liked it. Take care!
Dear Noorany, I can undericstand that since I myself didn't like doctors's office and hospitals. In the hospitals, I could always smell alchohol and pale colors of the walls made me so depressed and upset. Thanks a lot for your comment. Take care!