Heroes Not Zombies

For the last seven years I’ve lived surrounded by vineyards. Watching the changes in the vines through the year has connected me to the progression of the seasons. They are a completely different environment from the one I grew up in, and lived all my life in, back in Scotland.

I’ve taken multiple photos of these vineyards and every one of them is unique. What makes this particular one stand out for me is the interplay between the land and the sky. The rows of parallel vines cover the entire landscape from this viewpoint making their distinct pattern the main one visible from this viewpoint. But then look at the sky. The clouds are small and white and most unusually they are lined up in parallel rows running at right angles to the rows of vines.

That correspondence is what makes this photo stand out for me.

The core of my four decades of work as a doctor was one to one consultations. For each and every patient I tried to recognise patterns of symptoms and signs which might indicate a particular diagnosis. But on top of that I tried to understand the patterns of their lives, their thoughts and emotions, their behaviour. Seeing the correspondences between the different patterns is the basis of holistic practice. Only by searching for them could I see and treat every patient, not as an example of a disease, but as a unique, individual human being.