I was trained as a doctor to be John Wayne, she explains. You can t cry or grieve. But illness has meaning. People with illnesses often say to me that they can see themselves in a different light. And they re generally not the way they feared they d be.
Most people are much more profound and whole than they ever dreamed, if only they d open their eyes.
The stories in Remen s two books are about her patients opening their eyes in unexpected ways, which she hopes will encourage the reader to do the same. I don t know. But certainly people who have had these experiences can teach us something. Early in Remen s career, it was the young patient who taught his doctor a lesson. Although Remen tried to assure him that his illness wasn t the end of the line that there was a healthy way to live with a chronic condition the boy wasn t buying it.