Friday, November 12, 2004

body work

Yesterday, I realized how out-of-the-loop I am about school aged kids. Since when do they get a THURSDAY off from school for Veteran's Day? And could someone please send an email out about this crap or something, so some hapless idiot (me) doesn't go to Wahoo's expecting to "run in really quick" and pick up lunch. Apparently if you are between the ages of 2 and 20, the place to be yesterday was Wahoos. Poop to that!
 
Ryan (also a hapless idiot) found the same thing at the museum where he went to see the Body Worlds exhibit. He said that there were a lot of bored young kids, whose parents were dragging them through the jam-packed exhibit hall, also school groups and other gawkers who wanted to see what all the fuss is about.
 
Since I wasn't able to go to the museum yesterday, we are planning another trip. We learned about Gunther von Hagens in our anatomy classes, because our school has it's own plastination lab, so we use a lot of plastinated cross sections for study. I have to admit that I was more than a smidge jealous that Ryan got to go before me. He was totally blown away - completely amazed at the technique, the result, and the magnificent artistry of Gunther von Hagens.
 
After talking about the exhibit for more than 2 hours, Ryan turned and told me "y'know, that was the first time that I had ever seen a dead body." I thought about it for a while... not necessarily trying to think of an example to prove him wrong... but I thought about what a weird way that would be to see a dead person for the first time. In a museum exhibit - and one that is so... ? what's the word?... out there? expressive? artistic? surreal? I made a quick vow to enroll my children into a science school as soon as they can read. I grew up around medical things and situations. Always had an appreciation for the inner workings of the human body. I wonder how other people consider their bodies... can you truly understand the tear-evoking beauty of the nervous system, if you have never teased the nerves out of their casing? Can you appreciate the intricacies of your own heart, if you have never held one in your hand? Will you ever know the feeling of 'viscous' until you have opened an eyeball and pushed the vitreous humour between your fingers?
 
Every day I am overwhelmed by my own body, and the complexity of it all. And I wonder - does anyone else think about it at all?

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