Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Perseverance
It may seem a bit out of place to begin my post talking about theories of evolution, but perseverance is what life is all about. Granted, persevering the way Michael Chorost had is much more complicated than that displayed in evolution, but to me it all shares a common look at the Earth's history it is apparent that " survival of the fittest" is not just a saying. It is what drives humans and animals alike to persevere through hardships. In the animal kingdom if you lose your hearing you must adapt or die. As humans, if do not have the ability to hear, we are "disabled" and thought of as a lesser individual unless we can prove ourselves capable of fitting into society. The two men I recently read about both overcame their adversities in order to find self worth and a place in the world around them.
My research project was an analysis of two books that I read. The first book was Rebuilt by Michael Chorost and the second was Against Medical Advice by James Patterson & Hal Friedman. First let me start off by saying that these were both great books and worth every page I turned. I would reccommend Against Medical Advice to any and all of you who participated in this course. It was an easy book to read and I was able to finish it in one day. If you found inspiration in any of the three required texts then you will surely love this book.
Michael Chorost shared his experiences both before and after his cochlear implant while Hal Friedman and James Patterson wrote about the struggles Hal's son, Cory, faced in a thirteen year fight after being diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome. The stories of Michael Chorost and Cory Friedman's lives were similar in the sense that both individuals had handicaps that separated them from the rest of society and it is impossible to read either of these books and not realize how much people take for granted. The struggle of trying to be "normal" as defined by the world around them, as well as the ongoing search for acceptance, is something that these two men have dealt with for most of their lives. Their journeys were nothing short of spectacular.
I assume that many of you have already read Rebuilt and have and idea of just how much Michael Chorost was forced to endure. He was born into a silent world and had not been able to express himself through language until he was diagnosed to be legally deaf as a toddler. His parents did the best the could to help him obtain the skills he would need to be on par with other children his age. Through his love for learning and the help of others, he was able to live a relatively simple life but that all changed the day he lost his natural hearing for good. His world had been turned upside down and he was left alone while the rest of the world seemed to be moving all around him. Then came the decision to become a cyborg. Chorost underwent a surgery that gave him a cochlear implant and gave him back his ability to hear. Unfortunately the way he heard and thought would never be the same. He spent the next few years of his life finding his place in a world that viewed him as different. Eventually, he came to find that being different was being himself and that being himself was the only thing that made him complete.
The other book I chose to read was even more inspiring. Cory Friedman missed out on most of his child hood. While other kids were playing games he was struggling to breathe in his own body. He often felt trapped inside a body that was literally a ticking time bomb. He would often have tics and outbursts that would be so severe that he would break teeth, bones, and even tear his own muscles. He was unable to make friends and while his parents loved him, he could feel the daily burden he placed upon them. Sometimes death seemed like the best option for his misery. He went through numerous doctors and they all had a different approach to healing him. By the time he was an upperclassmen in high school he had been prescribed over sixty different medications and many of them only made his life more miserable. He had become dependant on alcohol and thought all hope was lost when he went to a survival camp in Wyoming. It was here, that he learned to control his tics and accept himself for who he was. After his return home he was informed that he would not pass his junior year due to absences. He asked to be given a chance to make up all of his work despite the faculty's doubts and proved them wrong. Cory found that through hard work and relying on yourself that you can overcome anything that life throws your way.
Cory and Michael have both endured amazing struggles that have surely shaped the men that they have become. Without these trials, neither of them would have such an inspiring story to tell. While it is obvious that they would have never chosen to have gone throughout the trials that they did; they both have an appreciation for themselves and their surroundings that is unmatched. Chorost wrote about his life, saying " I think my experience with the computer in my skull has given me an inkling of what it must be like to be homo faber, but only an inkling. The on hundred forty transistors in my skull give me sound, but they can not make me listen. It's only when I listen, that my cyborg technologies make me a better human. This is exactly what Chorost and Friedman did. They tuned into themselves and found that their handicaps did not make them lesser of a person it only gave them an opportunity to beat the odds that both nature and society had placed against them.
My research project was an analysis of two books that I read. The first book was Rebuilt by Michael Chorost and the second was Against Medical Advice by James Patterson & Hal Friedman. First let me start off by saying that these were both great books and worth every page I turned. I would reccommend Against Medical Advice to any and all of you who participated in this course. It was an easy book to read and I was able to finish it in one day. If you found inspiration in any of the three required texts then you will surely love this book.
Michael Chorost shared his experiences both before and after his cochlear implant while Hal Friedman and James Patterson wrote about the struggles Hal's son, Cory, faced in a thirteen year fight after being diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome. The stories of Michael Chorost and Cory Friedman's lives were similar in the sense that both individuals had handicaps that separated them from the rest of society and it is impossible to read either of these books and not realize how much people take for granted. The struggle of trying to be "normal" as defined by the world around them, as well as the ongoing search for acceptance, is something that these two men have dealt with for most of their lives. Their journeys were nothing short of spectacular.
I assume that many of you have already read Rebuilt and have and idea of just how much Michael Chorost was forced to endure. He was born into a silent world and had not been able to express himself through language until he was diagnosed to be legally deaf as a toddler. His parents did the best the could to help him obtain the skills he would need to be on par with other children his age. Through his love for learning and the help of others, he was able to live a relatively simple life but that all changed the day he lost his natural hearing for good. His world had been turned upside down and he was left alone while the rest of the world seemed to be moving all around him. Then came the decision to become a cyborg. Chorost underwent a surgery that gave him a cochlear implant and gave him back his ability to hear. Unfortunately the way he heard and thought would never be the same. He spent the next few years of his life finding his place in a world that viewed him as different. Eventually, he came to find that being different was being himself and that being himself was the only thing that made him complete.
The other book I chose to read was even more inspiring. Cory Friedman missed out on most of his child hood. While other kids were playing games he was struggling to breathe in his own body. He often felt trapped inside a body that was literally a ticking time bomb. He would often have tics and outbursts that would be so severe that he would break teeth, bones, and even tear his own muscles. He was unable to make friends and while his parents loved him, he could feel the daily burden he placed upon them. Sometimes death seemed like the best option for his misery. He went through numerous doctors and they all had a different approach to healing him. By the time he was an upperclassmen in high school he had been prescribed over sixty different medications and many of them only made his life more miserable. He had become dependant on alcohol and thought all hope was lost when he went to a survival camp in Wyoming. It was here, that he learned to control his tics and accept himself for who he was. After his return home he was informed that he would not pass his junior year due to absences. He asked to be given a chance to make up all of his work despite the faculty's doubts and proved them wrong. Cory found that through hard work and relying on yourself that you can overcome anything that life throws your way.
Cory and Michael have both endured amazing struggles that have surely shaped the men that they have become. Without these trials, neither of them would have such an inspiring story to tell. While it is obvious that they would have never chosen to have gone throughout the trials that they did; they both have an appreciation for themselves and their surroundings that is unmatched. Chorost wrote about his life, saying " I think my experience with the computer in my skull has given me an inkling of what it must be like to be homo faber, but only an inkling. The on hundred forty transistors in my skull give me sound, but they can not make me listen. It's only when I listen, that my cyborg technologies make me a better human. This is exactly what Chorost and Friedman did. They tuned into themselves and found that their handicaps did not make them lesser of a person it only gave them an opportunity to beat the odds that both nature and society had placed against them.
First Blog
Well here goes, my first attempt at ever blogging. As far as I can tell, A blog is to convey its creator's personality without having to ever meet them and the way it is composed is less of a concern, but then again I have a lot to learn about these things.
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