Book Review: On Living

We can learn much about living from those who are dying. Hospice chaplain Kerry Egan compiles stories of her patients and lessons learned in caring for them. Although interesting, those stories didn't capture me as much as the author's own story. She experienced post-partum psychosis after her anesthesia went wrong during her epidural. I was pierced by one episode in particular. Egan talks about how she could not move well and, while shopping for some shoes, her mother walked away, leaving her with the crying baby that Egan could not tend. A woman standing nearby began to talk to her friend about what a horrible mother Egan must be to ignore the baby's cries. She insisted such a woman didn't deserve to be a mother. Egan responded in anger. She struggled her way over to the women and retorted, "Babies cry.... If you can't stand the sound of a baby crying, then it's a good thing you don't have one.... Let's hope some baby never has to suffer with you as his mother." The woman burst into tears and only much later did Egan think about what hurt deep inside may have prompted those sobs. Such a powerful story about how we must remember there are things about others that we cannot see on the outside, hidden hurts and needs that we know nothing about. It is so important to be kind to others, as kind as we would have them be to us.