105 ms·

"I had stopped at a florist on my way to his apartment and bought myself an extravagant red rose for my butthole." ...caught me by surprise. On a more serious

"I had stopped at a florist on my way to his apartment and bought myself an extravagant red rose for my butthole." ...caught me by surprise. On a more serious note, I can draw comparisons with the subject of this piece. Nowhere near the same scale of degradation, but bits and pieces. Perhaps it's normal to have a certain margin for error where you can exhibit similar symptoms.

bmmayer1 11y ago
Ahem. Buttonhole.
marincounty 11y ago
The actual quote, "I had stopped at a florist on my way to his apartment and bought myself an extravagant red rose for my buttonhole. Now I removed this and handed it to him. He took it like a botanist or morphologist given a specimen, not like a person given a flower. ‘About six inches in length,’ he commented, ‘a convoluted red form with a linear green attachment.’ ‘Yes,’ I said encouragingly, and what do you think it is, Dr P.?’ ‘Not easy to say.’ He seemed perplexed. ‘It lacks the simple symmetry of the Platonic solids, although it may have a higher symmetry of its own ... I think this could be an inflorescence or flower.’ ‘Could be?’ I queried. ‘Could be,’ he confirmed. ‘Smell it,’ I suggested, and he again looked somewhat puzzled, as if I had asked him to smell a higher symmetry. But he complied courteously, and took it to his nose. Now, suddenly, he came to life." In all honesty, after reading about the doctor; I know why he didn't want to let the world know about his sexuality; he didn't want his personal life interfering with his professional life. I always thought I was pretty liberal, and open minded person, but once I learned of his sexuality; I read his work in a different light. I am ashamed of it, and I hope I can grow from the preconcieved assumptions? Assumptions that were on a subconcious level? I found myself questioning why he wrote mini-essays on literally every patient? I found myself thinking, "Did he write the elaborate patient summaries for the patient's sake, or was their some other compulsion at play? No-not necessarily sexual, just questing the man--wrongly! Wow--I thought I was better than this? Anyways, I'm sorry he died, and I'm honestly not sure how he will be ranked in history among his peers. Will it be the brilliant doctor, or just another well meaning, average--Practicioner, who used his profession, and patients to get out of back breaking work? I understand his passion for writing, but there's a part of me that wonders--if he really cared about his patients, or did he used them as a muse to further his writing? I am sicken to admit this, but because I know about his personal life; my wild assumptions are wrongly running wild! Yes, they are, and I am ashamed of it. I a middle aged man who needs to learn so much more! Anyone who has followed my posts, know I am no fan of most MD's, except my own of course. Actually, one I have is in on it for the right reasons! The other's I have known; well I just hope they didn't stop learning after med. school, and realize doing the right thing is better than harming a patient for money? I hope? Oh, I hope? I will get pummeled for this post, but this is my Goodbye. Yes--it's an easy away to dodge the questions, but I'm done. When I researched the parent post(still not sure of the Internet lingo), I found it immediately indexed on Google--word for word! It was wrong--it is "buttonhole", but this guy's rude post is there forever. This guy made a terrible joke, but should it live forever? I finally realized/conceptualized how Noting Is Forgotten on HN. There Is No Annonymity On The Internet. How far off Is the day a post is tied to an IP address, and that address is published for all to see? We all know just how easy it is to obtain a IP. Goodby All. I really enjoyed my time here! Those suffering from mental illness, even slight--it gets better with age. I have no reason to lie. And while the doctor's death is tragic, he lived a long, good life. His patients are the ones we should be grieving for? I hope the next generation of doctors make these patients lives easier? In reality, so little progress has been made to Dr. Oliver's patients? So little? It's beyond sad?

bmmayer1 11y ago

Ahem. Buttonhole.

marincounty 11y ago

The actual quote, "I had stopped at a florist on my way to his apartment and bought myself an extravagant red rose for my buttonhole. Now I removed this and handed it to him. He took it like a botanist or morphologist given a specimen, not like a person given a flower. ‘About six inches in length,’ he commented, ‘a convoluted red form with a linear green attachment.’ ‘Yes,’ I said encouragingly, and what do you think it is, Dr P.?’ ‘Not easy to say.’ He seemed perplexed. ‘It lacks the simple symmetry of the Platonic solids, although it may have a higher symmetry of its own ... I think this could be an inflorescence or flower.’ ‘Could be?’ I queried. ‘Could be,’ he confirmed. ‘Smell it,’ I suggested, and he again looked somewhat puzzled, as if I had asked him to smell a higher symmetry. But he complied courteously, and took it to his nose. Now, suddenly, he came to life." In all honesty, after reading about the doctor; I know why he didn't want to let the world know about his sexuality; he didn't want his personal life interfering with his professional life. I always thought I was pretty liberal, and open minded person, but once I learned of his sexuality; I read his work in a different light. I am ashamed of it, and I hope I can grow from the preconcieved assumptions? Assumptions that were on a subconcious level? I found myself questioning why he wrote mini-essays on literally every patient? I found myself thinking, "Did he write the elaborate patient summaries for the patient's sake, or was their some other compulsion at play? No-not necessarily sexual, just questing the man--wrongly! Wow--I thought I was better than this? Anyways, I'm sorry he died, and I'm honestly not sure how he will be ranked in history among his peers. Will it be the brilliant doctor, or just another well meaning, average--Practicioner, who used his profession, and patients to get out of back breaking work? I understand his passion for writing, but there's a part of me that wonders--if he really cared about his patients, or did he used them as a muse to further his writing? I am sicken to admit this, but because I know about his personal life; my wild assumptions are wrongly running wild! Yes, they are, and I am ashamed of it. I a middle aged man who needs to learn so much more! Anyone who has followed my posts, know I am no fan of most MD's, except my own of course. Actually, one I have is in on it for the right reasons! The other's I have known; well I just hope they didn't stop learning after med. school, and realize doing the right thing is better than harming a patient for money? I hope? Oh, I hope? I will get pummeled for this post, but this is my Goodbye. Yes--it's an easy away to dodge the questions, but I'm done. When I researched the parent post(still not sure of the Internet lingo), I found it immediately indexed on Google--word for word! It was wrong--it is "buttonhole", but this guy's rude post is there forever. This guy made a terrible joke, but should it live forever? I finally realized/conceptualized how Noting Is Forgotten on HN. There Is No Annonymity On The Internet. How far off Is the day a post is tied to an IP address, and that address is published for all to see? We all know just how easy it is to obtain a IP. Goodby All. I really enjoyed my time here! Those suffering from mental illness, even slight--it gets better with age. I have no reason to lie. And while the doctor's death is tragic, he lived a long, good life. His patients are the ones we should be grieving for? I hope the next generation of doctors make these patients lives easier? In reality, so little progress has been made to Dr. Oliver's patients? So little? It's beyond sad?