Moved to tears
I cried last night on my way home from work. Not because the other attorneys were mean to me--they weren't, especially--but because of a story I was listening to on "All Things Considered."
It was a story narrated by a 56-year-old bus driver who had been lobotomized in early adolescence. You could not tell, from listening to him, but he said it profoundly shaped his life. Apparently, his stepmother did not like him, and she went to this extreme in an attempt to get rid of him.
His father was there, just not fully engaged. The most riveting part of the story is when the man confronts his father about complicity in the lobotomy. The father "does not want to dwell on negative things," and the son accepts that. They conclude their discussion by telling each other they love each other.
My reaction was too complex to describe in this space. I thought of my sons, and wondered whether I could live with myself if I allowed something like that to happen to them. I thought of my father, and whether I could forgive him if he had allowed that to happen to me. And then I heard echoes, in my head, of them pledging their mutual love even after discussing what sounded like complete betrayal, and I have ... no words to describe what I felt.
Anyway, if you have emotional bandwidth, "My Lobotomy" is a story that affected me profoundly. Just do not try to listen while driving.
It was a story narrated by a 56-year-old bus driver who had been lobotomized in early adolescence. You could not tell, from listening to him, but he said it profoundly shaped his life. Apparently, his stepmother did not like him, and she went to this extreme in an attempt to get rid of him.
His father was there, just not fully engaged. The most riveting part of the story is when the man confronts his father about complicity in the lobotomy. The father "does not want to dwell on negative things," and the son accepts that. They conclude their discussion by telling each other they love each other.
My reaction was too complex to describe in this space. I thought of my sons, and wondered whether I could live with myself if I allowed something like that to happen to them. I thought of my father, and whether I could forgive him if he had allowed that to happen to me. And then I heard echoes, in my head, of them pledging their mutual love even after discussing what sounded like complete betrayal, and I have ... no words to describe what I felt.
Anyway, if you have emotional bandwidth, "My Lobotomy" is a story that affected me profoundly. Just do not try to listen while driving.
posted by Derek the Great at 4:20 PM
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