Kalanithi: A Brief Summary
Kalanithi explains in his short excerpt how people respond to illnesses in different ways, given different circumstances. Kalanithi realizes that people change their outlook on life depending on the prognosis they receive from a terminal condition. He points out that there is a difference in living for one more week and living for one more year, as people will choose to do different activities based on the time they have leftover. For example , if I had a week, I too would choose to spend time with my family, as I believe that would be the more soothing to both myself and my family. However, if I had a year to live, I believe I would quit school and travel the world before spending the last few weeks with my family. People always wish to fulfill
their dreams and live a more meaningful life on this earth . Living a life with a terminal illness is no different. The article is much more subtle in its reference to wellness as it doesn’t directly state how Kalanithi’s choices relate to his health. From inference however, the emergent property of this article is that humans actually tend to value the mental and social health over their physical given a highly probable death. This is also heavily organic as pleasure pathways favor fulfilling experiences over chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This seemingly means sacrificing a chance of survival for the certainty to enjoy life however, this is a gross simplification. Wellness is also mental and social as well as physical. Even though physical health might improve through chemotherapy and radiation therapy, the stress associated may affect mental and social health. It has been proven that the body performs less efficiently when under stress, both physical and mental. This is because the body recognizes “mental” stress in a physical, organic way. And so by deduction, by living one’s life in fulfillment, one can be equally as well as one who chooses chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Wellness is living, without all three facets, one isn’t truly living a healthy life.
their dreams and live a more meaningful life on this earth . Living a life with a terminal illness is no different. The article is much more subtle in its reference to wellness as it doesn’t directly state how Kalanithi’s choices relate to his health. From inference however, the emergent property of this article is that humans actually tend to value the mental and social health over their physical given a highly probable death. This is also heavily organic as pleasure pathways favor fulfilling experiences over chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This seemingly means sacrificing a chance of survival for the certainty to enjoy life however, this is a gross simplification. Wellness is also mental and social as well as physical. Even though physical health might improve through chemotherapy and radiation therapy, the stress associated may affect mental and social health. It has been proven that the body performs less efficiently when under stress, both physical and mental. This is because the body recognizes “mental” stress in a physical, organic way. And so by deduction, by living one’s life in fulfillment, one can be equally as well as one who chooses chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Wellness is living, without all three facets, one isn’t truly living a healthy life.