GERALD DUNSTON was a successful and energetic man. Confident, smart and hard-working, he did very well in his career and had a nice wife, house, and two dogs.

Everything went well in Gerald’s life until one morning he woke with a rumbly in his tumbly. “That’s odd,” he thought of the twinges of pain in his lower abdomen. The discomfort subsided and he dismissed it and thought nothing more of it.

But two days later the pain returned in sporadic stabs. That was even more odd. Then it returned every day for a month. He told his wife about it. He was disturbed and they both decided he should go to the doctor, something he almost never did.

He explained his symptoms in the medical office. The doctor listened attentively and then suggested he go to a specialist. The specialist, one of the best in the field, also listened carefully and ordered tests. Gerald did not like these invasive procedures but he submitted to them anyway as this pain was highly annoying.

He returned to the specialist’s office for the results. The specialist was a methodical man, “detail-oriented,” as they say, and careful especially in everything he said to his patients.

He looked squarely and compassionately at Gerald and said, “I’m afraid I have bad news.”

The doctor proceeded to inform Gerald of his rare and serious condition. He would need surgery right away. The specialist and his assistants would perform the operation themselves if he liked. They would open his intestines, remove a section and close them back up again. They would also give him high doses of steroids for months. The outlook even then was grim. In any event, it would take months for him to recover from the surgery and medicine.

Gerald listened patiently and impassively to what the doctor had to say. He listened to the whole, long description of the recommended procedures.

He thought for a few moments after the doctor was done and then said, “Doctor, can I ask you  a question?”

“Certainly. Please, anything.”

“Do you enjoy your work?”

“Well, I get satisfaction out of helping people get better.”

“In other words,” Gerald said, “you enjoy cutting people open with knives.”

“Well, no, I don’t enjoy it. I get satisfaction out of helping my patients live longer.”

Gerald responded, “You get satisfaction out of cutting people with knives.”

“Well, not exactly —–

“Doctor, I don’t know why you went into this business, it’s not my concern what your personal motives were, I only know that you inflict horrible incisions on your patients — you just told me point blank what you plan to do —  and then you feed them highly powerful drugs that make them feel worse than they felt before they came to see you. And you get paid for it! You’re a sick person.”

The doctor was disarmed. In his 20 years of practice, no one had ever said such things. A wave of anger rose within him. He thought of the sleepless nights, the years of expensive study, the painstaking effort to prevent harm, the stress of giving people bad news ….

Gerald stood up and put his hands on the back of the chair, adopting an aggressive position, as if he was going to pick up the chair and throw it at the doctor. His face was flushed and his voice burned with conviction.

“Doctor, you don’t have to do the things you do. No one has forced you to act with such extremism toward others. You have chosen to do it. You are hateful and I want nothing more to do with you.”

And with that Gerald walked out the door, a little discomforted in the belly but, his outrage vented, glad he would never, ever undergo procedures that would cause him even more pain.

The doctor sat at his desk. And then, remembering all those years and sacrifices, and the very real pain he had caused, he put his head in his hands and just held it there, as if it was the weight of the entire world.

— Comments —

Mrs. E.L. writes:

Can you help me understand the “Case of Hatred” post? I don’t understand it; is it a metaphor?

Happy Advent!

Laura writes:

Sure!

Those who speak difficult truths today are often accused of “hatred.”

The truth does cause pain sometimes. Terrible pain even.

But truth is necessary to the moral and spiritual health of a society. Just because something causes pain does not mean it is bad. This was just a story to illustrate that idea.

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