What gives life meaning?
Sorry, didn’t mean to start off with such a big question. But for real, its an incredibly difficult question to answer. But, as we age, the question — and trying to answer it — becomes more and more important. A viral post from a pediatrician seeks to answer this question — and it’s profound.
This is Alastair McAlpine
A pediatrician from Cape Town, South Africa, Dr. McAlpine has devoted his professional career to caring for kids. He also has an active social media presence on both Facebook and Twitter .
As a pediatrician, he deals with some harsh realities.
He decided to pose the deep question at the start of this story to his young patients who are in palliative care. The answers will make you feel things. You’re going to want to read this right to the end.
These kids know they have limited time.
It’s easy to take life for granted, but if you’re in palliative care, you know you’re not going home again. You’re going to die, full stop. And these patients are just kids.
Human-pet connections can be so deep.
Parents know what it’s like to feel total devotion towards another living being. But for kids, pets are often their first experience with feeling that level of unconditional, fiercely protective love.
It’s an emotional gut punch.
When a young life is taken away too soon, the lasting scars are felt by loved ones. When you have a kid, you expect to seem them reach adulthood. Anything less is a tragedy.
Obviously.
No one enjoys hospital stays (see Dr. McAlpine’s first post). While hospital food is pretty terrible in general, one of the very few perks is enjoying ice cream whenever you want it.
Read to your kids, read to yourself.
Some of my earliest memories involve curling up with my parents as they read me a story. Books stimulate young minds and provide escapism. This is a must for a kid in a hospital bed.
Know your true friends.
If you’ve ever been in a rough spot and had a friend come through, you get this. Adversity is often what separates the superficial friends from the ones who really matter.
It’s all about the experiences.
When you’re daydreaming to escape your current reality, what do you think of? For me, it’s the physical, visceral experiences like this — swimming in the waves or skiing down a mountain.
Be kind.
It’s easy to talk the talk, but it’s important to walk the walk. We all know we should be kind — but stress often gets in the way. It’s an important mantra.
It’s the best medicine.
I don’t mean that literally, of course, but just about anyone can appreciate humor. Letting go of your worries and just laughing about something funny with friends is an immediate mood booster.
Gotta have the toys.
Whether it’s an expensive, licensed collectible or just some simple wooden blocks, kids of all ages need toys to stimulate their minds. I still want toys, and I’m in my 30s.
This might be most important.
Families may be prone to differences of opinion, but they’re also the most fundamental social unit there is. Life is short — too short not to value your loved ones.
TL;DR.
I mean, I hope you read the whole thing, because it’s incredibly powerful. But Dr. McAlpine boils these heartfelt answers into a few bullet points. This is worth putting up on the fridge.
What’s your takeaway?
I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of an emotional wreck right now. If you’re interested, Dr. McAlpine wrote about this entire experience in a thoughtful essay, which you can read here .
