Doctor Curmudgeon® Grandma Cranky Made Me Do It
By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman, is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist/cardiologist
Somewhere…on this planet…there are those who have not heard of my beloved Grandmother, Dr. Cranky Wangshaw-Vesalius-Steinberger. She was one of the most famous physicians of the Victorian Era. Dr. John H. Watson was her half-brother and, as everybody in the world knows, he was the primary physician to Sherlock Holmes. When Dr. Watson was away on his many travels, my great-great-great Grandmother stepped in.
This distinguished and rather old Victorian physician is my own personal gyroscope, keeping me balanced and oriented.
She is aware of the emotional trauma I feel when watching the news and has rationed my time with the various news networks to a bare minimum.
Wafting into my bedroom this morning, accompanied by her signature scent of lavender and vanilla, she proclaimed,” My dear child. The time has come to focus on good news. Think of how fortunate you are to have a huge screen with beautiful visual capabilities.
“You have a ringside seat to enjoy the Olympics. Brave individuals who have trained for years.
“So, stop your dark thoughts.
“Join the games!”
And so, Great-great-great Grandma put Olympic thoughts into my head.
Olympic! Indeed, what does the word itself mean?
Oxford dictionary says, “Relating to ancient Olympia or the Olympic Games.
Origin: Late 16th century via Latin from Greek Olumpikos ‘of Olympus or Olympia.”
When did it all begin?
It was summer. The scene was Olympia in Elis, the Greek city-state. And the year was 776 B.C. (And, although I am of a venerable age, I was not present) But many people believe that the Olympic competition had been going on for about five hundred years before that.
In 776 B.C., the Olympics were held in honor of the King of the Gods, Zeus. Only naked men were allowed to participate.
Years later, the Romans conquered Greece; and in A.D. 393, the Olympics were banned by the Emperor of Rome, Theodosius I.
It was not until fifteen hundred years later, on April 6, 1896, that the games resumed in Athens. The athletes were welcomed by King Georgios 1 and thirteen nations competed. Again, only men were allowed to compete and I presume that they were clothed.
Television did not rear its head until 1936 in Berlin, but it was only able to be viewed locally and was not transmitted internationally.
(Interjection from Dr. Cranky, who has a vendetta against footnotes and remembers seeing the great Black athlete, Jesse Owens and insists on inserting a quote from Britannia on-line:
“Owens’s performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics has become legend, both for his brilliant gold-medal efforts in the 100-metre run (10.3 sec, an Olympic record), the 200-metre run (20.7 sec, a world record), the long jump (8.06 metres [26.4 feet]), and the 4 × 100-metre relay (39.8 sec) and for events away from the track.
His four Olympic victories were a blow to Adolf Hitler’s intention to use the Games to demonstrate Aryan superiority.”)
Taking the advice of my wise great-great-great grandmother, I put down the newspaper and trundled downstairs to the television screen.
After successfully finding the remote, I am now seated in my favorite chair, chocolate chip cookie in hand, with the Olympics flooding my screen.
Let the games begin!
Dr. Curmudgeon suggests “Bitter Medicine”, Dr. Eugene Eisman’s story of his experiences–from the humorous to the intense—as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.
Bitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. –on Amazon
Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.
SERMO www.sermo.com “talk real world medicine”