Sharing the View

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one – hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window. He had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the deceased’s body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making s ure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. The window shade when lifted faced a blank wall.

Perplexed, the man asked the nurse what could have compel led his deceased roommate to describe such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”