I've just gone through an, admittedly short, HN commentary and felt compelled to hit the UV button on every single comment - I'm usually pretty stingy in that regard.
The article is beautifully written and I defy anyone to read the quote below to not be touched in some way. To then realise, later on, that the writer is also afflicted with Alzheimer's is very poignant.
This is a very touching and tender reflection of what a mind and intellect can be and what the gradual and cruel destruction of self means to the sufferer.
"As Murdoch’s illness continued to crumble away her language and reason, she gradually abandoned attempts to write. Soon sense departed from her speech as well—except to him who loved her deepest and longest. There came a day when Iris laid her hand on Puss’s knee and said, “Susten poujin drom love poujin? Poujin susten?” Bayley needed no more help than her hand gentling his cheek to distill from this jumble the grammar of love."
i have to certainly agree. the article itself was a thing of beauty, so poignant as to be a work of art in and of itself. the suffering that individuals experience with alzheimers is a great sorrow in this world, and it's always so awful to hear of it, but yet it fed such a powerful expression and brought so many disparate people together in the HN comments section for the article to express such beauty and vulnerability with regards to their own suffering and experiences in life related to the topic at hand. i am fairly stingy with up votes too but I think just about everything said here deserves one as well :)
The article is beautifully written and I defy anyone to read the quote below to not be touched in some way. To then realise, later on, that the writer is also afflicted with Alzheimer's is very poignant.
This is a very touching and tender reflection of what a mind and intellect can be and what the gradual and cruel destruction of self means to the sufferer.
"As Murdoch’s illness continued to crumble away her language and reason, she gradually abandoned attempts to write. Soon sense departed from her speech as well—except to him who loved her deepest and longest. There came a day when Iris laid her hand on Puss’s knee and said, “Susten poujin drom love poujin? Poujin susten?” Bayley needed no more help than her hand gentling his cheek to distill from this jumble the grammar of love."