On Caring for the Mind

Make a heaven of hell, or a hell of heaven.

Custom statue of Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands (1990) from the Tim Burton movie. Edward, a synthetic man with scissor hands, is taken in by Peg, a kindly Avon lady, after the passing of his inventor. At first he’s loved by the townspeople. And though kind and well-meaning, things take a turn for the worse when he’s blamed for a crime he didn’t commit.

“You have been formed of three parts—body, breath, and mind. Of these, the first two are yours insofar as they are only in your care. The third alone is truly yours.” - Marcus Aurelius

The consultant eventually spoke after pretending not to see me. And where exactly were you this morning? he asked. A tamponade of tension made the theatre go quiet- the scrub nurse pretended to count swabs, the resident was suddenly fascinated by the monitor. I had told him. I had told the anesthetist, the nurse, even texted him on WhatsApp; I had gone to watch the ex-laparotomy because he himself, last week, had said go and see things. None of that mat…