Oct 17 2012
Their Health is Worth the Wait
Waiting was never something I tolerated well. I’ve gotten better as I’ve grown up but as a child I was always very impatient, wanting time to pass so I could go to the party or get the Christmas gifts I had been waiting for since August. After watching The Waiting Room my impatience disgusts me especially because of the trivial things I am forced to wait for. Whether it be the train or for my class to be over so I can finally go home, nothing will ever compare to waiting for hours on end for a doctor to finally diagnose and illness that could be very serious. One thing that continued to perplex me throughout The Waiting Room was the fact that it seemed that each illness they displayed was progressively worse with no improvement in sight. For example, the bone spurs in the one man’s back seemed like a serious ailment until he was overshadowed by the cancer patient with a large tumor and the patient with the gunshot wound and the moving bullet in his leg. One thing that I definitely took away from this film was that one shouldn’t over look his or her health. I’ve always been reminded that I “have my health” when things didn’t seem to go my way and now I finally understand. These people waiting for hours had next to nothing on top of the fact that they also lacked their health. Most were unemployed and lacking health insurance which was why they were in the waiting room to begin with and on top of that they were afflicted with terrible illnesses! Although sick and in a vulnerable state these people in the waiting room remained very strong. The man I spoke of earlier, the cancer patient, had a large testicular tumor and although slightly uneasy, he is nowhere near as nervous as I would’ve been especially if I was in his financial situation as well. The patient with the gunshot wound also remained strong with the help of his family as they fought with the receptionist in the the hopes of expediting the process. All in all I believe that The Waiting Room has a very strong message that says to value what you have and avoid dwelling on the little everyday problems because when bigger problems come along you won’t be prepared to wait for them to get better. 
