Stereotypes Clichés, and Arrogance

Stereotypes, Clichés, and Arrogance

The other night, I watched a movie titled Rory O'Shea Was Here. The film is an Anglo-Irish production and centers around the lives of two disabled "lads" in Dublin who rent an apartment on their own. It's called "independent living," and is a goal of many programs in Europe and the US that help people with the disabilities lead more fulfilling lives.

I enjoyed the two characters in the film: Michael, a young man with cerebral palsy and Rory, a 21-year-old guy with Duchene MD. The characters were believable and enjoyable, up until the end, which I found rather disappointing. Rory, with an advanced case of DMD, dies during the film's final moments (sorry for the spoiler). While the scenes between the dying Rory and Michael are quite touching, I would have rather seen the movie take another course.

Yes, death is inevitable for DMD patients, but it's inevitable for us all. Our lives--the personal stories of which we each are the hero--are book-ended by two events over which most of us have little control and less knowledge: birth and death. It seems all movies about people with MD end in the inevitable sad death-and-grief scene. Why not, in the case of the Rorys of the world, concentrate more on the living that comes in between birth and death? The stories should be less maudlin and more down-to-earth. It's not that Rory's death didn't bring a tear to the eye, but the writers could have found another, less conventional way to end the film. Then again--maybe that's a task I should tackle.

Another good film is the old William Hurt movie, The Doctor. It's about an arrogant surgeon who discovers how the "other half" lives when he becomes a cancer patient. His self-assurance quickly dissipates in the face of the medical establishment's indifference to human suffering. Why so many doctors become arrogant is beyond my comprehension--after all, eventually they will themselves grow old and infirm and become patients. Medicine would seem to be a prime example of a field in which the Golden Rule should apply.

Finally, Steven Landsburg hasn't replied to my letter. Not too surprising. People like him cannot own up to their own mistakes. Humility and economists do not seem to go together well.