What experiences have unparalleled (incomparable) value for you?
One clue would be to recall times when you have called an experience “eye opening”.
Pause with the ‘eye opening’ image. Eyes can be naively closed . . . closed in slumber . . . closed in meditation . . . clenched shut. Eyes can be closed by ignorance . . . by prejudice . . . by pain . . . by ideology . . . by selfishness . . . by fatigue . . . by fear. Eyes can be opened by education . . . by travel . . . by the unknown in ‘for better or worse’ . . . by deep friendship . . . by severe accident/illness . . . by awe.
Is an ‘eye opening’ experience a ‘life changing’ experience? Usually not. Why? Why do so many ‘eye opening’ experiences fade away? Not enough time . . . Not enough energy . . . Inadequate processing skills . . . The discomfort . . . Pressing obligations . . . Old friends who cannot understand . . . Disturbing self-examination . . . The necessary investment in similar/new experiences . . . The uncertainty . . . The loneliness . . . The risks . . . The silence.
It remains an experience of unparalleled (incomparable) value that we have learned to see for once the great events of world history from below – through the perspective of the barred (put out, cut out, blocked), the suspects, the badly treated, the powerless, the oppressed (restrained), the scoffed (derided, mocked), in short the perspective of those who suffer. (It is) only in this time when neither bitterness nor envy (jealousy) has cauterized (corroded, gnawed away) the heart that we see with new eyes great and small, fortunate and unfortunate, strong and weak; that our view of greatness, humaneness, justice, and compassion has become clearer, more free, more incorruptible (not subject to bribes); indeed, (that we see) that personal suffering is a more suitable (qualified) key (code, cipher), a more fruitful principle, than is personal good fortune for exploring the world by observation and action.
The person who penned this value statement was born into upper-class privilege. His cultural refinement and public service were taken for granted. Previous generations of his family had made significant contributions in academics, politics, church life, the military, and music. When totalitarian darkness descended on his country, he and several others in his family resisted. He forsook escape. He shared fully in his fellow conspirators’ resolve to oppose a devastating head of state. He maintained his cover and theirs in prison. He let go ideas that had collapsed under the weight of horrific evil and human suffering. He sketched in isolation the electric new ways he had begun to see. He hung from the gallows in honorable defeat, his integrity intact.
Participation in patient care places us uniquely near vulnerable individuals in pain. Their demographics vary. They have at least one thing in common. Their stories are broken. They reveal their brokenness to us. What value do we assign the experience of being near them? Are we learning to see ‘from below’? to see through the perspective of those who suffer? Can we? Dare we?
Think about it. Perhaps talk to a co-worker.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45) wrote the reflection about seeing ‘from below’ as he prepared an essay in December 1942 for his parents, his siblings (and their children), his closest friend (Eberhard Bethge), and his fellow covert resisters imbedded in a branch of the German counterintelligence. I have been privileged to have the assistance of my close friend Renate Bethge -- Eberhard’s wife and Dietrich’s niece -- as I revised and finalized my translation of Dietrich’s reflection on seeing ‘from below’ and his December 1942 essay. Words/phrases in parentheses offer additional nuances, add implied ideas, or indicate alternative translations.
