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Two Arms and a Head (2008)

2arms1head.com

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Re: Two Arms and a Head (2008)

#2
> All I can hope for is to become happy with a life that now tortures me. One that cages me, pens me in, puts up walls all around me. One that makes me smaller, misshapen, that boxes my heart and spirit inside of me. But that’s no hope at all, no challenge at all. As if one could say, “You will be enslaved from now on with no chance of escape. Your owner will use your wife and daughters as he pleases, for his pleasure. If you do not work you will be whipped and tortured and it will be the same for your family. Your hope in life, and your challenge, is to become happy with this.”

Re: Two Arms and a Head (2008)

#3
I remember stumbling upon this man's story during a hard time in my life.

I understand.

I'm more sympathetic towards assisted suicide now.

It's mercy.

> My personality was something I spent years creating. Along with my mind and body, it was part of my life’s work. It’s true that I accomplished a good number of things, but my greatest accomplishment was myself. It was the thing I put all of my heart into and wanted to share with the world and now it’s imprisoned inside of me. When people tell me I just have to find a different way to express it, I want to SCREAM!! Do you know Joseph Merrick, the “elephant man”? One of his doctors said the saddest thing about him was that he could not form expressions with his face. He could not smile. I expressed myself with my body! I showed joy with my body! I was a fighter and a wrestler, a streaker and skinny-dipper. I was a runner, a jumper, an expert weight-lifter, and yoga master! An adventurer! A thrower of axes and a hefter of logs. A fisherman who wrangled with sharks and octopi. A wearer of giant pumpkins! I was so much fun! A hearty embracer of friends. A climber of trees and of mountains. I loved to throw big rocks! To dig and build and move heavy things around. I was so strong! I loved to play with children! I would catch my cousins in my arms, all three at once, and run them in circles, or bear them proudly around on my shoulders.

> I am Horowitz with no fingers. Phiddipides with no legs, Shakespeare with no pen. Michelangelo with no chisel or paintbrush. I am not what I am.

Re: Two Arms and a Head (2008)

#7
This is one of those things I stumbled upon and couldn't stop reading until I finished. As weird as it is to say this on a link aggregation site I highly recommend setting this aside for later instead of just looking at it now (it'd probably be ~250 pages if it were a typical paperback for time reference).

Re: Two Arms and a Head (2008)

#9
post #8

Bleh, this was a very unpleasant story with an even more unpleasant ending. Be wary of wading into it unless you’re ready to be depressed

It's mostly the very uncut reality of the suffering of many human beings who are legally denied any dignified methods of peacefully leaving our world.

Reading this shouldn't make you depressed, it should make you pissed as hell that medical science has been held back for decades now because of religious bullshit, and also give you some motivation to call your lawmakers and demand they legalize doctor assisted suicide/euthanasia (unless you live in some of the few places that offer it), in a style that isn't completely restricted from the actual individuals choice & dependent on the whims of caregivers or legal guardians who aren't the one actually living in a torturous hell on Earth.

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