Just watching the news and they've just shown the footage of the US woman who's had the face transplant recently.
My god. What a hell of a situation. They showed three pictures - 1) Her as she was in her early 40's, 2) her just after she had recovered from being shot in the face by 'her husband' who then turned the gun on himself and 3) her new 70% transplanted face 5 months after the surgery.
In this time of mobile communication and an increase in people citing loss of identity in modern life, I can't think of anything more disconcerting than imaging what that woman has been through. Not only has she clearly been shot in the face by a man she married and loved but then she's heard / seen / known that he then shot himself dead and in a split second became unrecognisable to society for the rest of her life. In the last few years she will have had 3 faces, her birth face, damaged face and transplanted face.
What must that do to your brain. I can't even begin to compare my wobbles in identity in comparison to the inner strength she must have simply in order to have survived without going mad.
There are people in the world who shock me, surprise me and overwhelm me with courage on a daily basis. As I get older I'm humbled by those who really know what it means to live when the should by all accounts not be living.
If my biggest worry in life is who I'm living with and who I think I am, I've got nothing to worry about. Will it stop me being introspective - no probably not. But being humbled by real life is a good thing every now and again.
