“When I grow up, I want to become an occupational therapist!”, said no one ever. The same was true for me. I wrote down BS Occupational Therapy (BSOT) for my college applications because I saw it initially as a stepping stone to medical school. The other reason why I pursued OT is the burden that I felt for my schoolmates who struggled academically. I could relate somehow to their plight because I had difficulties in math. My math anxiety gave me the desire to change the school system to promote young people’s well-being. OT would hopefully be the tool for accomplishing that.
Indeed, the sufferings that we’ve gone through can be the north star that points us to vocations that we must pursue. Yet, we often base our career decisions mainly on other people’s definitions of success. That’s a major reason why we end up with soul-crushing jobs. Naoki Urasawa’s Monster demonstrates these truths through its main characters, Johan Liebert and Dr. Kenzo Tenma.
Johan is Tenma. Tenma is Johan.
Tenma and Johan had many similarities despite their opposing worldviews. They’re both from families whose senior members were career demons. Tenma’s father was pressuring him to manage their family-owned hospital even if Tenma didn’t want to. A minor character in the anime even speculated that Tenma became a doctor because his father drove him to it. On the other hand, his mother who worked in medical publishing triangulated him with his step brothers. The burdensome parental expectations became so unbearable that Tenma left Japan for Germany to practice there. But when Tenma became a neurosurgeon at Eisler Memorial, he found himself repeating the toxic dynamics that he experienced in his family with his hospital superiors.
Johan’s family was a million times worse. His grandfather, uncle, and father committed human rights violations against their own family to gain more political and military power. Johan’s mother became vengeful because of this. So she brainwashed Johan into having the desire to be the ruler of a one-world government. The difference was that Johan loved his twin sister Anna more than his life, which was why he swore to give her everything. But the machinations that he resorted to only turned Anna against him.
Suffering as the Solution
The nightmares brought about by Johan and Tenma’s pursuit of their “dream jobs” eventually compelled them to look back on the pains that they suffered as children. Reflecting on their previous trials gave them a greater understanding of how they ended up in dire circumstances. Confronting the monsters of their past also empowered them to reimagine a different direction for their lives. By the end of the anime, Tenma continued practicing as a doctor albeit in an unconventional way, far from the cut-throat corporate practice he badly wanted to succeed in.
As for Johan, the corrupt mainstream media’s narrative in the Monster universe is that he’s in a coma. That’s the author’s way of implying that he’s up and about. My theory is that Johan was actually the state’s black ops soldier. He’s licensed to kill criminals that could not be convicted in the flawed justice system. I still consider him to be a mass murderer though because I hate big government. On other other hand, even some of the vilest criminals in Monster found redemption. So based on the anime and on Another Monster, I conclude that Johan became a priest as part of another Jason Bourne-type operation. He might even become the next pope (Ha! So much for passing on your superior genes to the next generation!). The good news for him though is that his new assignment would allow him to spend more time with kids, which he enjoys immensely. Whether or not we will agree with his child rearing practices is another matter.
Beauty for Ashes
The COVID-19 pandemic has put many dreams on hold, if they have not yet been destroyed. The lockdowns have also dried up people’s resources. And healthcare workers are not exempt from these experiences. The threat of economic hardship necessitates that we diversify our sources of income. But to avoid bad decisions, we occupational therapists ought to reflect on how we survived our previous trials before we make our next career moves. Those sufferings can point us to better ways of serving others without sacrificing our well-being. So let’s ask ourselves, what were my greatest pains? How did I overcome them? What values do I hold dear because of what I went through? What sufferings in the world do I want to alleviate because of my hardships? What sacrifices should I make to become a better servant? Who knows, we might even empower our patients to do the same! As Rev. Elwood Worcester said, “How frequently the sorrows and misfortunes of life turn out to be God's messengers to us which close the old doors and seem to end the past, in order that we may find our way to the future, to the new life God has held in reserve for us."
(Photo by the National Cancer Institute)
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