“Three hours ago, this man was in a battle. Two hours ago, we operated on him. He’s got a 50-50 chance. We win some, we lose some. That’s what it’s all about. No promises. No guaranteed survival. No saints in surgical garb. Our willingness, our experience, our technique are not enough. Guns, and bombs, and anti-personnel mines have more power to take life than we have to preserve it. Not a very happy ending for a movie. But then, no war is a movie.” Quote by Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce (Alan Alda)
Diagnosed with a rare genetic recessive condition called cystinosis at the age of two, media in the form of books, video game magazines, movies, and especially TV shows were very important to me. Like many patients, much of my childhood, adolescence, and early young adulthood was spent in the hospital. Whether it was in a clean room, the ICU, or in a shared or single room, I was admitted all the time. Confined to bed, I became passionate about watching television. From The Simpsons, King of the Hill, anything on the History Channel, and Dragon Ball, or virtually anything else, I was likely to watch it. Television was comforting in its ability to teach me humor, facts about the past, and the creativity found in hand drawn cartoons to depict exciting action scenes. While I could list many shows that brought me comfort, one scene that has stayed with me is from an episode of M.A.S.H.
My brother Brian introduced me to the series when I was in seventh grade. It was a bad time in my life. My health was on the decline, I was dealing with kidney failure and hernias, and I was absent from school constantly. I started watching the series when I was on vacation with my family. I’d never seen a show like this.
Set along the 38th parallel, the comedic show was situated during the Korean War at a military mobile hospital. A metaphor for the Vietnam War, the series brought humor and intellect to me when I only watched humor-based shows and not satirically based ones. I watched every episode in the first two seasons multiple times.
While I have many favorite episodes, like “Market to Market,” “Chief Surgeon Who?,” and “Kim,” the one that brings me comfort is “Yankee Doodle Doctor.”
This episode is about filming a new propaganda film promoting the war at the medical unit, and how the skill and bravery of the doctors keeps the war going. Knowing the message of the movie, Hawkeye and Trapper are disillusioned and annoyed by the director’s enthusiasm for promoting war and the suffering that comes with it. Not liking his intent, the two expose his film reels to bright light, forcing him to quit the project. Then the guys convince their commanding officer to let them make a new film. The film that Hawkeye and Trapper make is a comedy, at least until the end. After minutes of humor, the episode gets solemn and serious.
Hawkeye addresses the cast and the viewer saying the quote used above. After being comedic and making jokes about propaganda films, the surgeon suddenly explains the realities and consequences of war.
As a sixth grader in 2001, I watched this episode a year after the 9/11 attack. Possessing poor health and possessing the feeling of uncertainty as my country felt divided, watching this M.A.S.H episode comforted me with the message that even when we know the horrors of war, we can still have the commitment to fight by providing aid and comfort to our troops as well as to the “enemy.” As my health continued to decline, this message influenced me to keep going. A funny premise with an important moral, this is one reason why TV brings me comfort.
Born and diagnosed with Cystinosis in 1993, Ethan Krenzer is passionate about supporting his community in any way possible. Possessing a Bachelor’s Degree from Depaul University in Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Art History from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) he loves studying history and culture. After serving three years with AmeriCorps Montana with three separate nonprofit organizations in the counties of Missoula and Silver-Bow, he is now preparing to earn his second Master’s Degree and Certificate in Nonprofit Administration from the University of Montana, Missoula (UM). An active participant in medical studies and trials, Ethan hopes that his participation will one day lead to a cure for his community.
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