Hughes Ch. 9

Surprisingly enough i thought this chapter was very interesting, i had no idea "pysical illness may initiate, or at least accelerate, the creative pursuit of his or her vocation"(117). I do have to say when i have been drinking it is much easier to be creative in the sence my mind doesnt try to gold me back. The fact of the matter is when a person is not under the influence it is much harder to be creative because the person second guesses themselves. When under the influence or in this case are sick or have a disease the mind is not "normal" and it is much easier to be creative.ANother aspect i liked about Hughes article is the section titled Through the Pain Gate I cant see how people can get through the pain gate without the help of drugs, I know I could not go a day without my pain medication for my back. Apparently it makes people more creative, to channel the pain into something useful. The section on Cancer, AIDS, and TB perplexes me still today i dont understand how people can have these diseases and remain so positive. It seems like these people are very selfless in that all they want to do is help other people by spreading the word of how to protect themselves from these horrible diseases. As you may or may not know my wife just beat brain cancer and Lyme disease, the reason I bring this up is the whole way through the sickness she was so positive while i was an absolute wreck. To summarise this chapter the main idea Hughes is getting at is the people that seem to be "disabled" in one way or another are in the best posistion to be the most creative because they view life in a much different way than a person that is healthy and completly functional.