BROKEN MAN ON 1, 2, 3

Hemingway said every man is a broken man, that’s how the light gets in.

His inexact quote is a little different with, “We are all broken. That’s how the light gets in,” but the same idea.

I’m just not as inclusive as the big guy.

‘We’ are not all broken, not yet, at least not enough for light to shine in.

And this is the problem.

There’s a fine balance between broken enough for the light to get in and too broken to stand.

How fine?

Pandemic Fine

The miracle of technology allows us more access to terrible stories, as if there’s not enough already.

A 2020 story about an old husband in England getting the covid vaccine after his old wife dies isn’t anything I want to know more about.

But I do now:

Among the first people to get the Covid-19 vaccine was a man whose wife had died just a week earlier after contracting the virus.

The old guy cracked when his wife died and the light came in? That’s what it sounds like.

The couple’s son, Dr David Whitehead, 49, a consultant ENT surgeon in Middlesbrough, said he felt “potential relief” that his father had been vaccinated, but “heartbreak” that his mother could not be saved.

You can feel things breaking breaking here.

Or the man in 2021 who died from covid after attending a family reunion:

His widow said he had a chronic autoimmune, neuromuscular condition called myasthenia gravis, which may have made him particularly susceptible when he attended a gathering of 50 to 75 extended family members in a rented hall in July.

The couple had been avoiding crowds, but they mingled unmasked at the event, along with relatives, several of whom were unvaccinated, Ardith Keplinger said.

“Within a week, 11 members of our family had COVID,” she said, adding that she was among them but recovered.

But her husband and a cousin who also attended the party both died of COVID-19 on Aug. 11.

This helped me make a decision about a family gathering.

A Fine Balance For Broken Man

No matter how hard you are, or think you are, there are cracks in the facade.

The weird part is you may be the last to see them.

After working so hard to check as many life-boxes as humanly possible, getting all the stamps of approval, you are a superman with the power of invulnerability.

Yes, you are. And you’re ready to fight anyone who dare says different. F#ck yeah.

But, as we in the cardiac-rehab community learn, and not too late, the body absorbs emotional trauma that can lead to, well, cardiac-rehab.

You folks so pride-deprived that you hook your physical well-being to a charlatan’s medical advice, then boo him when he comes around?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, applauded Trump’s decision to reveal that he had a booster shot.

“I’m very pleased that he did say that and come out publicly and say that he has been vaccinated and boosted,” Fauci said during an appearance Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day.”

“But to get booed for saying that just tells you about the extraordinary divisiveness we have going into this public health issue, which should be devoid of divisiveness,” Fauci added. “It should just be focusing on what the public health principles are.”

My friends, you are courting trauma and it’s a bad date. Keep stuffing Trump ideas into your life and then turn on him before he turns on you?

Keep a good supply of nitro pills.

Shared Medical Trauma

The light comes through people at different times.

It’s your nieces at your mom’s funeral, your brothers at your dad’s funeral, your kids when they don’t think you notice.

I was the broken man a few times and saw the light come through. My Mom and Dad visited me in the hospital after I fell out of a tree. Big parental lights from them.

Wife and kids when I dipped to the nadir of chemo and radiation for HPV neck cancer? Big intervention light for a big lift.

I saw it in nurses while I spent the night in ICU where they saw me.

In each instance I saw how my condition affected others I cared about. Maybe you’re different and care about other things than wife, kids, family, and friends.

And I understand. But your gun, or your Harley, or your TV minister won’t be shining a light if you’re one of the lucky and you’ve got a bed and a respirator waiting.

What else is waiting if you ignore sound medical advice to get vaccinated and boosted?

As the medications accumulate in the body, they may cause:

• Memory issues
• Problems with weakness
• Major issues with sleeping and wakening
• Discomfort and/or pain
• Constipation
• Intimacy challenges 

We often don’t even know the patient is experiencing these side effects because we can’t communicate with them while they’re intubated. Based on scientific studies, the longer you’re on a ventilator (especially for multiple weeks), the lower your chance of a good outcome.

How do you want to be remembered, buddy? Will you be the smart guy who lived through the pandemic as a broken man because you reluctantly got vaccinated and boosted?

Or the dupe whose last words are, “Is Mr. President here yet? He said he’d be right there with us on Jan. 6, and now. Could someone check, please? I followed his orders and I’m giving him my last request. MAGA-ak-hack-whoomph-bwaak. Is he here yet?

“Tell him I love him.”

Why I Write For The Broken Man

I write for the one minute thirteen second readers in Portland, Oregon; the 12:21 readers in Tigard; the 6:22 readers in Lorain, Ohio.

I write for the four minute twenty one second readers in Australia; the 9:43 readers in Israel; the thirty-one second readers in Japan.

And you. What time is it? How do you feel?