Journal of Sacred Work

Days 9-13 – The Marriage of Love & Need

Dr. Ceriani - W. Eugene Smith 1948 - 2   The picture is notable not only for the physician (a Dr. Ceriani) & his patient but for the artist who made the picture. W. Eugene Smith became a legendary photo-journalist. Today his work is prized.

   Art succeeds when the artist strums a universal chord of meaning & beauty. We don't know either caregiver or patient, here. Yet, we do know them.

   This sacred encounter awakens every recollection of our personal participation in the marriage of love & need. 

   Usually a team brings healing (note the supportive hand in the bottom right of the picture.) Frequently, the moments are more intimate. A solitary angel leans to tend to a fallen being. 

   This is the daughter changing the diapers of her dementia-afflicted mother. It is the young father cooling the brow of his fever-ridden son. It is the hospice nurse comforting a dying patient. 

   These are the unheralded hours when compassion & competence flow through the hands of those who live love. Gene Smith captured that: the scar previously sewn, the doctors right hand treating the eye while his left hand steadies his patient's head. 

  Yet, it is the expressions & the language of bodies that most nurture our sense of the majesty & grace of caregiving.

-Erie Chapman

Photograph: "Dr. Ceriani" by W. Eugene Smith, 1948 (rephotographed in window shadows by Erie. From the Museum of Modern Art book, "Looking at Photographs" (1973)

   

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4 responses to “Days 9-13 – The Marriage of Love & Need”

  1. Terry Chapman Avatar
    Terry Chapman

    In my experience, loving care, often by sense of touch, has been the true healer from many ailments of mankind, myself included. We often pose as islands of humanity when in reality we are linked together by that same humanity!
    Always reach out to the person next to you, known or unknown, familiar or strange to your way of living. Your friendly handshake offered may form a bridge to a new mutually supportive relationship, and if not, two “islands” have touched, and brought a little sunlight upon them both.

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  2. sbeng Avatar
    sbeng

    Erie; I do appreciate what you said; “these are unheralded hours when compassion and competence flows through the hands of those who live love”. How true. Having been in the field of work before I fully know how much the terminally ill patient and their family members appreciate the care and support of the HOSPICE TEAM.

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  3. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    What a remarkable image as well as the grace filled message that holds this story in the arms of Love. I’ve read your message twice today and each time I would have missed that gentle loving hand reaching out so unobtrusively to lend support.
    This morning one of our educators accompanied a nurse in orientation on a joint home visit. The patients husband shared with the nurses that he was an architect by trade but he was really an artist at heart. He proceeded to share with our nurses a book filled with drawings he had done over the course of his wife’s illness. Times when she was in the hospital, after surgeries and countless paintings of her during the journey of her illness. Our nurse was moved to tears as she looked at the tenderness of his paintings. This expression of love poured out onto the pages of his art book was extremely meaningful and beautiful beyond words.
    …Just like the images and expressions you have lovingly poured out on these pages in the JSW, through the years as well through the journey of your healthcare career, mentoring, encouraging and supporting caregivers in RLC. Yes, majesty and grace, thank you, Erie.

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  4. Todd Meador Avatar
    Todd Meador

    To me the picture displays a perfect balance of thoughtful and emotional care or competence and compassion or thinking and feeling.
    Through his eyes you see that he is processing information, but has not lost his connectedness to humanity.
    This balance is what strikes me the most. He seems to be “in the zone”. Looks like he has submitted to the moment and is downloading information and guidance from his higher self or a higher power.

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