House or House MD is a USA network series that I have been watching for quite sometime. I like the way the story goes and as I have been watching it I have realized an observation that is actually in effect in our daily lives.
Dr. Gregory House, the main character, is an atheist (as presented in the story). He is obsessed with solving cases which is a puzzle to the medical profession. His physical state demands that he take a pain reliever that in a way made him addicted to it that he can’t work or function well without taking it. In a way he was anti social because of his remarks on other characters in the story, and yet he is still look up to by his peers because of his skill.
Because of his atheistic belief he has confounded his analysis as a doctor to the things that are real. Things or rather sickness are cause by things that are real and not act of divine thus it could be solved as long as the symptoms lead him to the cause. Because of this way of thinking he is branded as heartless in a sense that he does not consider the patients or the relatives of the dying person when the case requires a procedure that will only have a 50-50 chance of success. He is obsessed with finding answers…for him there are no space for emotion.
If we see our lives like how Dr. House sees it that is focusing on the real and objective facts of life things would have been easy. Decision like whom we should save in case a pregnant woman is a perilous labor would have been easy. Emotion always make us confused on how would we proceed in our lives. It makes us hold back things that our logic tells us. Emotions like guilt, love, pity, and others make us stop and make the effects of passing time reduce our chances of making things right when we have the chance.
It has been like this in our lives: Emotion versus Reason.
Let me tell you my personal experience just recently. I came in the Philippines for a short vacation and one of my agenda is to meet old friends. One of them was my ex-girlfriend. We met to catch up with our lives and when I met I was wowed by her. She’s sexy and beautiful. That is my emotion telling me she is sexy and beautiful. If I follow what my emotions say I could have asked her back but my logic says we are friends. For me she is my friend. And I am happy that we are now friends. In most cases relationship that broke would cause the lives of two person miserable for the rest of their lives because of their emotion. Hate of the past still lurks in their hearts that every time their mind is lead to that relationship only pain lives in them. Thus this burden is carried from one relationship to another thus making it hard to live what life should be…..resentments what if they have fixed the problem and they are back again.
Again I tell you, it is natural for men to be attracted to the physical side of women and shut off their reason. In a relationship beauty is just a tiny part of it. That is why I chose to be friends with my ex-gf not because I am still holding back in case things go right but rather moving on and learning from that experience. Good thing we both grew up and move on with our lives and not burdened ourselves of the what ifs in case we will start another relationship. It is more of respect that I look up to her in that way and more of appreciation on her physical looks.
But also part of being human is emotional. I was trying to have time with the woman I am interested right now. Though she has made things clear I am still pursuing her….that my friend is emotion driving me even though my logical side says “okay move on next please!” But this quality is one of the things that makes us human, to feel.
We are not robots to do what we are program to do. We are humans to feel how to be hurt, to be in pain, in joy, to be satisfied, to be appreciated, to be free, to be happy and to be sad. Our feelings may not be objective or reasonable but without it where or what kind of life are we going to live.
The heart often says things not in accordance to reason, but sometimes following the heart although would not lead us to expectations will lead us to our satisfaction that at least we have tried. That we have made something instead of just accepting the fact that it is what it is.
There was an episode in the series that showed this emotion versus reason scenario. Dr. House was operating a young cancer patient since the symptoms points to the problem in the heart. In House mind he was just trying to figure out why is the kid having such sickness, a sickness separate from her cancer, and for him it would not matter if the girl survives the surgery. For him he needs to know what’s causing her hallucinations even though her physical body would not create such sickness. The girls heart stop and he was ready to call the time of death but Dr. Cuttie followed her emotion. This kid wouldn’t die just like that. She kept on reviving her and until she was revived. Because of that Dr. House was able to figure out what is wrong with that girl. Probably without Dr. Cuttie’s emotion Dr. House could have just accepted the fact that kid’s life just ends there….life will always be like this we must chose either to fight for our emotions or accept what the facts are telling us. It’s easy when we just follow the facts and hard if we let emotion rule our decisions but either way we have to choose.
Monday, November 3, 2008
House diagnosis
Fish out of water
I got a chance to be back in the Philippines since my May visit. As I was about to leave the airport there’s this feeling that makes me uncomfortable. It’s kinda a fish brought out of the water. I know I am from the Philippines and yet the moment I step out of the airport it caught me. Probably I have adapted to the Guam atmosphere or it was just that my body clock is still sticking to the Guam time, a two hour difference, thus my body seems to reject the state that it was submerge into.
The last time I came here I asked how the country was after the successive financial blows brought about by the sub-prime woes of Wall Street. Gases were at the Range of Php 40-50, rice is at Php 30-40 range, and minimum jeepney fare is at Php 8.50. The groceries that your Php1, 000.00 can buy was reduced to half as much what you can buy a year ago. I asked the taxi driver I hired and told me that gas prices has already stabled but it would be nice if it would still go down so that at least they can make ends meet. Life here truly seems to be harder than a year ago.
As I step into my old apartment, I felt this uncomfortable feeling of limited space. I know I had live in this apartment for nearly 8 years and yet it seems that I am place in a tiny room were I can’t breathe. The light was dim and it added to my dizzy state. As if the place is too small for four people and yet this very same place served me and my three siblings in our college years. Probably I have not yet adjusted or I have not yet switched my adjustment button to condition my body to this Philippine setting.
I was early the next day to process my POEA clearance. The first observation was that traffic is bad and that everywhere seems to be scathe by the black smoke coming out of buses. Pollution lurks in the city…and yet so many Filipino’s still prefer to live in such place where employment is available. Anywhere you look people are trying there best to survive another day…either the right way or the wrong way. Where in the world will you find a bus still waiting for passengers to come to there bus even the traffic light is green.
Probably I have forgotten the life back in the Philippines. But I realize something in my short vacation, if Guam can do it why not Philippines? Simple traffic rules and yet everyday it is violated. Wages are low but the problem is people are choosy…at the same time unwise in their use of money. They complain that they don’t have enough to survive a day and yet they a have a cellular phone on their hand forward ridiculous text messages. Problem truly is in our Pinoy mentality…our culture of laziness and use of connection to politicians. Things could have been done to make our country a better place to live but we never make an effort to do it….
