“Dupuytren’s contracture.”
This phrase may bring to mind a mythical weapon that can bestow enviable power upon a video game character, but it actually refers to a medical condition that freezes one’s fingers. Left untreated, it can deform one’s hand permanently.
Dupuytren’s contracture was what forced world-renowned heart surgeon Stephen Westaby to retire after performing 12,000 surgeries over 40 years. His right hand became, as he put it, forever “warped into the position in which I held the scissors, the needle holder, the sternal saw,” making even simple gestures like shaking hands impossible.
Westaby’s condition may be a tragedy for him and the patients he could have operated on, but I see it in a different light – as a symbol of a life fully lived. Each of us is given a body and a brain at birth. We are all going to grow old and infirm one day anyway. Why not physically deplete ourselves while putting our earthly shells to meaningful use?
Obviously, unlike many Gen Zs, I’m not an advocate for work-life balance. I believe in finding work that matches one’s natural gifts, then working hard to turn those talents into a service distinctive enough to command a premium. In my own life, I’ve managed to get people to pay me to do what I love – writing (OK they don’t directly pay me for it, but I teach English by composing alongside my students, so I do get compensated indirectly). Because this way of earning money comes so naturally that it feels almost accidental, it can even seem logical to work when I’m sick – why leave on the table money that comes so easily? So, when I’m down with a flu, I just take Tylenol; while immersed in writing along with my students, I will forget that I am unwell.
Taking sick leave is also a foreign concept to Westaby. In a piece he wrote for the Daily Mail where he lambasted the NHS, he noted in passing “I’d toiled in without a single day of sick leave for more than 40 years.” (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
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Michelle Ng
英國牛津大學畢業，前《蘋果日報》和《眾新聞》專欄作家，現在身在楓葉國，心繫中國大陸和香港。
聯絡方式： michelleng.coach@proton.me
個人網站： https://michellengwritings.com
