Bearing Witness

Sheila talks a lot about bearing witness and the importance of seeing when she writes about the events of September 11. (She writes in reference to the near absence of footage of the WTC attack in the media some four plus years later, emphasizing that the best way to remember is to see the footage regularly.)

I agree that bearing witness is critical to understanding. (Sheila would note that understanding doesn't mean accepting.)

But I digress...

I only understood the full extent of my brother-in-law's suffering from AML at the young age of 40 (benzene from the planes that he worked on while in the Navy is probably to blame) when I saw him after his transplant. He was a ghost. Then, all of the time that my husband spent at the hospital and everything our relationship endured as a result of his illness and suffering completely made sense.

From time to time, I would still struggle with all that we endured as a family as a result of his extensive hospitalization, but bearing witness to his suffering, particularly that day when he was at his lowest point, helped me to understand and remember what it was that he was fighting against.