After the accident, John seemed to have recovered from the accident without any conspicuous disabilities. But his life had been quietly corroded by chronic pain. And almost equally by the stresses of navigating the doctors medications and their side effects to manage it. The trama wasn't the falling tree, but his experience of erlessness as a perpetual patient in the american medical system. It manifested as a kind of unbearable empathy for any one who was suffering. He found early on that he could corden off this suffering, both in his own mind and in conversation, by making jokes about the accident itself. That trick got much easier after the national geographic show aired later that year, mission rescue, final frontier
It was meant to mark the start of their lives out of college, but the adventure quickly turned into a nightmare. Beginning with what seemed to be a lucky whale sighting, three friends set out on a sea-kayaking trip through Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, watching out for bears, and having a good time, when tragedy struck.
In recounting the days preceding and following the accident, which seriously injured one of his friends, the Times journalist Jon Mooallem explains how he was forced to reckon with his fears. Detailing the incident’s surprising repercussions, he muses on the importance of overcoming one’s fears, and finding poetry in life’s darkest moments.
This story was written by Jon Mooallem. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.