"Please, mom...No More Pictures!"
Beckett's Reaction to the Exhibits... (haha)
Let's start our recap with the museum... As you'll recall from my previous post, The Body and the Brain exhibit received some pretty controversial press. I can now see why! Essentially, people who donated their bodies to science were turned into displays for examination - almost works of art. Gunther von Hagen, the person who created the exhibit, is a very unique person. He was masterful in describing, explaining, and showing the human body in its most basic physical state. There were probably 15 complete bodies displayed to show muscles, ligaments, and bones working to perform tasks we do daily. There was a baseball player in full-swing, a ballerina in a pirouette, and even a pair of figure skaters in some type of spin. The complete nervous system had been seperated from everything else; each organ was displayed with an explanation and corresponding healthy/unhealthy examples. The webs of arteries and veins were isolated and displayed in correct position, as if the rest of the body had been made invisible. Never had our existence seemed more miraculous to me; the intricate detail and minute mechanisms that make our most basic functioning possible could never have been happenstance. Truly, our biological design is beyond comprehension.
At that same time, there was something...off-putting about the whole thing. Something uncomfortable. Intensely. As we were looking at the exhibits, it was hard to get past the sense that we were looking at people. I couldn't help but wonder who they had been, and that led me to think about who we really are. Not too far from those thoughts came some questions...Were these 'displays' really people? Or had the things that made them human - made them real - left when they died? We have to be more than the beautifully, miracuously designed tissue and sinew, because underneath it all, we are exactly the same. These exhibits, while all human, couldn't have been the same. Yet you couldn't tell if these people had been American or Armeanian, white or black, rich or poor. Which of them had enjoyed hard rock over classical music? What were their favorite flavors of ice cream? Who were their role models? What did they believe in? Hope for? Dream of? Even though physically, we are designed the same, aren't those unique features what make us human?
An exhibit like this does so much more than teach human anatomy. It forces reflection - if forces people to think about their beliefs. It seems it would be more important for those people among us who have doubts, because it is impossible to leave without recognizing the role and importance of the spirits within our physical beings.
I don't think I would want to go again. Even though it caused some deep thinking, it was also disturbing and kinda creepy. The guy is very passionate about this, too, which is cool, but still kinda creepy... I don't know - some people don't have a hard time with death, but gawking at dead bodies - for whatever reason - is a little morbid for me. But I am glad we went. Shonn and I had some great conversations as we left. Beckett, on the other hand, was asleep. (I can't wait to tell him about his first museum visit. Shonn is quick to point out there were other cool things, including a dinosaur exhibit. But really? What's he going to remember?)
