It’s not often that something I’ve written in my capacity as
director of the Cavendish Historical Society is also relevant to my blog for
those affected by chronic conditions. However, since this article is about
resilience, a theme which I’ve blogged about quite a bit over the years, I
thought it would be worth a cross post.
This is a major year for our little town of Cavendish, VT. It’s
the 100th birthday of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet dissident
and Noble Laureate who lived 18 years of his 20 years exiled in Cavendish. It’s
also the 170th anniversary of Phineas Gage’s accident.
On September 13, 1848, Phineas Gage, a foreman, was
working with his crew excavating rocks in preparing the bed for the Rutland and
Burlington Railroad in Cavendish. An accidental explosion of a charge Gage had
set blew his tamping iron through his head. Not only did he survive the
accident, but he lived for 12 more years and became the first documented case
of traumatic brain injury (TBI), ushering in a new understanding of the brain.
Born on Dec. 11, 1918,
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a soldier in the Red Army fighting on the front
lines of WWII when he was arrested for writing “disrespectful” comments about
Stalin to a friend. Sentenced to eight years in the labor camps and then
permanent exile, his experience was the basis for “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” “Gulag Archipelago,” “Cancer Ward,” “In the First
Circle,” and many other books, poems, plays and essays. While his writing won
him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, it also resulted in his being exiled
from his Russian homeland. He and his family spent almost 18 of their 20 years
in exile living in Cavendish.
Other than their Cavendish
connections, and sharing a significant anniversary in 2018, what else could
these two men have in common?
• They both lived for
extended periods of time in countries other than where they were born-Gage in
Chile and Solzhenitsyn in the United States.
• Both nearly died, Gage from
his injury and subsequent infections and Solzhenitsyn from metastatic cancer,
and an assassination attempt by the KGB.
• Both played a role in
changing history-Gage’s injury and recovery was the gateway to the modern
understanding of the brain and the field of neurology. Solzhenitsyn’s writings
contributed to the end of the Soviet Union.
One of their most significant
commonalities maybe their resiliency-that ability to adapt over time to
life-changing situations and stressful conditions.
The American Psychological
Association has identified five factors that contribute to people becoming
resilient.
1.
Having caring and supportive relationships within and
outside the family: Research
indicates that having good relationships with close family, friends, neighbors
or others is possibly the most important factor for developing resilience. Accepting help and support as well as
assisting others in their time of need is of great benefit.
2.
Capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to
carry them out. Recognizing that
change is part of life, stressful events happen and understanding that crisis
isn’t necessarily insurmountable is key. Accepting circumstances-e.g. having a
brain injury, being imprisoned or exiled-can help to focus on circumstance that
can be altered by taking decisive actions.
3.
Positive View of yourself and confidence in strengths
and abilities: People often learn
from adversity, recognizing their own growth as a result of loss.
4.
Skills in communication and problem solving
5.
Capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses
Below is a brief overview of
how Solzhenitsyn and Gage met this criteria. Note that while we have
Solzhenitsyn’s writings, his family, as well as various biographies, articles
and essays to drawn from, unfortunately, much less is known about Gage.
Gage: Within
hours of his injury, his family immediately gathered in Cavendish.
Throughout his life, Gage’s family was
an important touchstone for him. The Gages traveled by boat from Boston to San
Francisco, with Phineas disembarking in Santiago, Chili, where he worked as a
coachmen. When he became ill-most likely the development of epilepsy from his
brain injury-Gage returned to his family in San Francisco, where he ultimately
died.
Once he returned home after
his accident, Gage knew he had to make a living. He recognized that he was a
curiosity so he spent several years “exhibiting” himself. The daguerreotype
shows him as well dressed and self confidant, though he was blind in one eye.
He carried his tamping rod with him everywhere he went and even had it engraved-
This is the bar that was shot through the
head of Mr. Phinehas P. Gage.” The engraver misspelled the name.
Again and again Gage would
show himself as resourceful. Whether he was exhibiting himself as a
curiosity, working as a stage coach
driver, or finding work after he joined his family in San Francisco, Gage was
rarely without work even though by today’s standards he would have been
considered compromised.
Poor impulse control and
being quick to anger are certainly characteristic of the type of TBI Gage
sustained, yet to drive a coach for as long as he did, first at what is now the
Hanover Inn in Hanover, NH and then in Santiago, would have required that he
learn to master these behaviors.
Gage drove a Concord coach in Santiago for
seven years, which required excellent cognitive and motor skills. An 1860 advertisement says the 13 hour, 110
mile journey from Valparaiso to Santiago started at 4am. Passengers paid
$10.00 for the journey and were allowed 50 pounds of luggage. Before
arriving at the starting station at 4 a.m. Phineas would have had to check (if
not actually perform) the feeding, grooming and harnessing of the horses.
Once there he would have had to load the luggage, collect the fares, give
change, make the passengers comfortable, and keep them so for the next 13
hours. He would have driven back to Valparaiso 24 hours after arrival in
Santiago. Psychosocial Adaptation
Dr. Henry Trevitt, of
Valparasio knew Gage well and reported he
was engaged in stage driving; and that he was in the enjoyment of good health,
with no impairment whatever of his mental faculties. Not only did
Gage have to learn the complexities of his job, but he would have also had to
adapt to a completely new way of life Chile. It is possible that his highly
structured occupation as coach driver helped to “rewire his brain,” much as
current rehabilitation programs, based on “neuroplasticity,” provide today’s
TBI patients.
An
interesting side note, it would be a cousin of Gage’s, Fred “Rusty” Gage, that
would pioneer the field of neuroplasticity-the human brain is capable of
generating nerve cells throughout life. Until then it was believed that humans
are born with all their brain cells and lose them as they age. Rusty Gage’s
research is paving the way for not only new treatments for those with TBI, but
also stroke and Alzheimer’s Disease. When asked about tips for a successful
research career, Rusty Gage stated, “Don’t plan too far in advance; be open to
new opportunities and ways of looking at the world.” And when asked what did he
think his biggest accomplishments outside of the lab would be, he noted,
“Having a family that apparently still loves me.” It would seem that the Gage family
understands the basics of resiliency.
Solzhenitsyn:
Even though his father died in a hunting accident before he was born, he was
much loved by his mother and her family. In fact, his mother never remarried as
she didn’t want a step father that would be too hard on him.
While living in Cavendish, Solzhenitsyn was surrounded
with strong support by his wife, Natalia, her mother and their sons. Everyone
was involved in the “family business” as Solzhenitsyn spent his time writing
“The Red Wheel.” The children would type, his wife would edit, and his
mother-in-law had the precise task of carefully turning every letter into
Cyrillic script, since the IBM Selectric typewriters did not have a Russian
alphabet.
Solzhenitsyn returned
Cavendish’s gift of privacy and sanctuary by offering safety to others in
exile, including the Soviet dissident Aleksandr Ginsburg. In addition, the
royalties in the West from “Gulag Archipelago,” were used to establish an aid program,
the Solzhenitsyn Fund, to help Soviet political prisoners and their families.
His experience in “external
conditions of unfreedom” (being in the forced labor camps) helped him formulate
the idea that true freedom is possible even in the most restrictive human
situations. He wrote in From Under the
Rubble, “We are creatures born with inner
freedom of will, freedom of choice-the most part of freedom is a gift to us at
birth. External, or social freedom is very desirable for the sake of
undistorted growth, but it is no more than a condition, a medium, and to regard
it as the object of our existence is nonsense. We can firmly assert our freedom
even in external conditions of unfreedom.”
Solzhenitsyn expressed his
inner freedom and individuality by continuing to write while in prison. When he
could not write prose, he memorized verse. His role as writer and truth teller
was so central to who he was that when he was told that his cancer had returned
and only had a few weeks to live, he proceeded to hide his writings in bottles,
burying them in the hopes they would be found.
Through his writings, Solzhenitsyn provides clues to
how he and others endured life in the camps. In various novels, his characters
engage in various forms of “mindfulness” -focusing on the present moment in a
non judgmental way. Research is now showing that mindfulness breeds resilience.
“Satiety depends not at all on how
much we eat, but on how we eat. It's the same with happiness, the very
same...happiness doesn't depend on how many external blessings we have snatched
from life. It depends only on our attitude toward them. There's a saying about
it in the Taoist ethic: 'Whoever is capable of contentment will always be
satisfied.” In the First Circle
In “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” at the close of day,
the “zek,” (prisoner) engages in what is now encouraged by positive
psychologists-acknowledging the good that is in your daily life. Shukhov
felt pleased with life as he went to sleep. A lot of good things had
happened that day. He hadn't been thrown in the hole. The gang hadn't
been dragged off to Sotsgorodok. He'd swiped the extra gruel at
dinnertime. The foreman had got a good rate for the job. He'd
enjoyed working on the wall. He hadn't been caught with the blade at the
search point. He'd earned a bit from Tsezar that evening. And he'd
bought his tobacco.
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