How many speakers have come to the University and asked their audiences to do warm-up exercises? Out of those who may have, how many ask audience members to find partners they do not know, take their faces in their hands, look them in the eye and say, "I love you?"
Probably just one -- Dr. Patch Adams -- when the world-renowned, clown-nose-wearing doctor spoke in Old Cabell Hall March 30.
As students filed in for "An Evening with Patch Adams," some may have been surprised that the man standing on stage looked different from Robin Williams's character in the movie. His hair was partially gray with an electric-blue streak on one side.
Adams informed the audience that he has dyed his hair every six weeks for the past nine years because "it's pretty."
Dressed in loud orange pants and a blue Hawaiian shirt adorned with surfing frogs, Adams drew in a crowd of about 670 students, parents and community members. The event was cosponsored by the University's chapter of the American Medical Student Association and Towards a Better Latin America, a University CIO.
After hearing Adams speak at the AMSA national convention in August, AMSA President Amanda Sharp decided to start fundraising to raise the $20,000 donation Adams asks for to speak. In this case, the money went toward building a medical clinic in El Mozote, El Salvador.
In 1982, there was a bloody massacre in El Mozote that claimed the lives of everyone in the town except one. That female survivor recently died, but her daughter is an aspiring medical student. Adams is collaborating with fellow fundraisers to fund her medical school expenses so she can work in the new clinic when it is completed.
Adams "has a lot of very innovative ideas and he wants to prove that these ideas can work," Sharp said.
By selling concessions, collecting ink cartridges and conducting a letter-writing campaign, AMSA spent the 2006-2007 school year raising the money. Towards a Better Latin America also donated $2,000 to the cause.
Sharp joked that if Adams inspired her to raise $20,000 in her fourth year of College, he must be motivational. Sharp also praised Adams's humanitarian efforts.
I learned "you don't have to go to medical school for four years to be a good person and make a difference," Sharp said of her experience with Adams.
This sentiment resonated throughout the evening, as Adams encouraged the audience to love to no end.
"Go to Africa for five years," Adams said. "Notice I didn't say a week."
Judging by a show of hands, nearly everyone in the audience had seen the movie about Adams. Towards a Better Latin America president Angie Ferrero said she was surprised by Adams' larger-than-life presence.
"The Patch Adams of the movie seems so much smaller" than the real Patch Adams, Ferrero said.
After the warm-up exercises, Adams launched into an introduction to "love strategies." The evening revolved around the idea of love, how to love and why loving one another will make this world a better place to live.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Adams said he called CNN again and again, introducing himself as "Patch Adams, the famous guy" and asking, "Do you mind if I tell our nation of some love strategies?"
His phone calls were met with disinterest.
Throughout the evening, Patch posed challenges to audience members, forcing them to think about the way in which society is structured, why it is oftentimes negative and what can be done to better love one another. He asked if there was anyone in the audience who thought there was something more important than love. Not one hand went up.
"I haven't found one school that teaches one hour in 13 years about the most important thing in life," Adams said.
He then provided facts to the audience that demonstrated the lack of love in the world. Thirty-five thousand children die every day of starvation. Every eight seconds someone dies from lack of water. Sex slavery is a $15 billion industry each year. Forty-five million Americans lack health care.
After informing the audience of these facts, he turned to his "pep talk for loving," beginning with a list of seven things he loves, offering individual stories for each item on his list. Frequently crouching down and leaning into the faces of those in the front row to emphasize a point, he incited even more laughter.
Number one on the list was humanity. Adams said he answers each letter and e-mail, thinking of each as a "little miracle." Though Adams said he is not a religious person, he addressed the issue of God several times.
"God for me means friends," Adams said.
Adams' initial interviews with new patients last four hours so he can get to know everything about them.
Number two on the list was life, followed by nature at number three -- Adams owns 160 books just on bugs.
"Who here has hugged a tree?" Adams asked the crowd, looking both ways as if to make sure no one was coming, and then wrapping his arms around an imaginary tree.
Number four was the arts, number five was thinking. Number six was love in action.
So what was the final item on Patch's list? Romance. Throughout the entire evening, he spoke fondly of his love Susan Parenti, with whom he has had a 14-year long distance relationship. He said she was "so much" greater than he had imagined.
Adams then showed the audience video clips of himself in his famous clown costume working with actual patients. The audience watched as he worked with a girl who had cerebral palsy. She began the session sitting alone with her head in her lap, but after 45 minutes, Adams had coaxed her into waving joyously at the camera. During the video, Adams laughed and admitted to the audience, "I want to tell you I have no idea what I am doing here."
Another clip showed Patch and an orphan dancing through the streets. Adams, again in full clown attire, said he visits the girl every November when they have two hours of "our world."
In every country that Adams visits, he said he learns three crucial phrases: "Thank you," "friend" and "I love you."
Adams stressed the importance of gratitude, the most crucial of all "love strategies," claiming that all one really needs in life is food and a friend.
Though quite controversial at times in medical treatments and politics -- he does not prescribe medicine for mental illnesses and said he "know[s] our government loves war; it's good business" -- Adams still captivated the audience.
"I was very awed and inspired by Patch's emphasis on the power of love and the denaturalization of social differences among peoples," first-year College student Natalie Nguyen said.
Adams said he works 60 to 80 hours per week, is rereading the complete works of Emily Dickenson and can recite poetry by heart for four hours. Additionally, Adams and Parenti created a model addressing the problem of health care delivery in the United States.
Adams has many dreams, but the one he said he holds closest to his heart is the building of his hospital "The Gesundheit Institute" where there is no charge for health care.
So, what's your love strategy?
Read More
It’s okay not to be okay
By Mai Hukuoka | 4 days agoWhether talking to a friend, a loved one or a professional, it is so necessary, and human, to need more than you can provide for yourself.
Taking a break at Tangerines Kitchen
By Charley Thomas | 6 days agoWhat the restaurant somewhat lacks in ambiance, it compensates for in tasty dishes and prompt service.
Virginia Policy Lab — a hub for student-led policy action
By Katherine Haden | December 9, 2024Students propose their own projects and collaborate with other members to research their issues of interest, brainstorm solutions and write policy proposals.
