Meningitis Is a Disease, Not a Metaphor

Meningitis is a disease that doesn't usually kill you, but can cause severe pain. We want our lives to be stories that make sense; we are hard wired to look for patterns and constellations from the stars. Meningitis wasn't a metaphor or a narrative device: it was just a disease. The challenge and responsibility of personhood seems to be to recognize personhood in others,. To listen to others pain and take it seriously, even when you yourself cannot feel it.