By Bill Cayley, MD, MDiv
“Literary experience heals the wound without undermining the privilege of the wound.” —C S Lewis (Goodreads)
In turbulent times, withdrawing to a quiet place with a good book seems more tempting than ever. Escaping to another story, another place, or another time can seem the best refuge from chaos and uncertainty. Yet escaping in reading can also feel like a guilty pleasure when it seems that something should be done. While rest and refuge are important for pacing oneself and avoiding burnout, reading can also provide inspiration as the stories of others give us insight into how they faced turbulence and chaotic change. Perhaps, as we face the current moment, a good book might be just the right thing.
Looking back over recent history, it is hard to think of a more turbulent time than the 1930s and 1940s, when the world learned that the “war to end all wars” (World War I) actually was not. In 1943, Langdon Gilkey was a teacher in China and one of about 2000 expatriates interned at the Weihsien compound for “safety and comfort” during the Japanese occupation of China in World War II. Shantung Compound (HarperCollins) is Gilkey’s story of that experience, as the interned expatriates were essentially left to themselves to organize and run life inside their compound. From dealing with hunger, jealousy, boredom, and fear (and even an exploding egg) to finding ways to make life more civilized and tolerable, the book tells a story of community and humanity in the face of isolation and deprivation. As Gilkey concludes, “Out of apparent evil, new creativity can arise if the meanings and possibilities latent within the new situation are grasped with courage and with faith.”
From World War II also comes the story of Le Chambon, a French village that was the center of a movement which sheltered nearly 5000 people (including more than 3000 Jews) between 1940 and 1944. While many find the stories of Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler inspiring, most of us are not diplomats or industrial magnates. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed (HarperCollins) tells the gripping story of how “goodness happened” in Le Chambon as ordinary people daily risked their ordinary lives to overcome an extraordinary evil. As the author concludes his book, he reflects on the way the Chambonnais affected him during his research and writing: “I know now that I want to have a door in the depths of my being, a door that is not locked against the faces of all other human beings. I know that I want to be able to say, from those depths, ‘Naturally, come in, and come in.’”
The biographies of individuals can also motivate us and inform us with the wisdom of others who have trod paths of challenge. In Man’s Search for Meaning (Beacon Press), psychiatrist Viktor Frankl tells his own story of finding meaning in life as he faced the horrors and loss of life in a Nazi concentration camp. Coming to more recent times, the stories of those who fought for civil rights during and since the 1960s provide more than ample inspiration. While nearly all are familiar with Martin Luther King Jr, the name of John Lewis may be less familiar. The great-grandson of an enslaved man, Lewis first aspired to be a preacher, later took part in many central events of the 1960s civil rights movement, and subsequently served 17 terms in the US House of Representatives until his death in 2020. In His Truth Is Marching On (Penguin Random House), Jon Meacham tells the story of Lewis’s decades in public service, shaped by his faith-based belief that one should love one’s neighbor as oneself. Another influential leader shaped by the civil rights movement, family physician David Satcher served as US Surgeon General from 1998 to 2002. My Quest for Health Equity (Johns Hopkins University Press) is Dr Satcher’s autobiographical account of his decades-long work on equity issues through academia and public health.
Finally, at a time when the essence of family medicine seems at risk of being lost amid politics, culture wars, and threats to the integrity of science, stories of others who have walked the path of general (or family) medicine can be grounding. The breadth of medical autobiographies can be overwhelming, but a small sample of noteworthy narratives includes A Fortunate Man (AbeBooks), the story of an English country doctor in the mid–20th century; A Fortunate Woman (AbeBooks), the story of another physician (this time a woman) in the same English rural town; and What Matters in Medicine: Lessons From a Life in Primary Care (University of Michigan Press), Dr David Loxterkamp’s stories from a career in rural Maine.
How to face the current moment? Take a deep breath, take some time for reflection, and consider taking time to find inspiration and wisdom from those who have gone before.
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