In "Peed Onk" the author illustrates the vulnerability and suffering of a family when they find their baby is suffering from cancer. Surrounded by a fleet of uncaring doctors and nurses in Pediatric Oncology (Peed Onk), their vulnerability and suffering are quite clear and compelling. The reader can identify with their feelings, first because the author is extremely fine at showing the inner workings of the mother's mind, and second because the situation itself is so sympathetic and poignant. Nothing could be worse, the story seems to say, than a baby with cancer, and yet, in the end, it is almost as if the mother wants to continue her suffering, because she chooses the less aggressive treatment, instead of "stomping out" the cancer as her husband recommends.
             Using a baby as the victim in this story makes the parents even more vulnerable and even the reader suffers when thinking about the options for the baby, and the families of the other children suffering from cancer. It brings up many of the age-old questions people ask themselves in these situations, such as "Why me?" and "What has this child done to suffer so?" Of course, there are no real answers to these questions, which is part of the point of this piece.
             Indeed, giving up suffering would be giving up some of our vulnerability, and that vulnerability is one of the things that makes us uniquely human. We are able to understand we are vulnerable, and that we suffer, which separates us from the animals and everything else. We also want to avoid these situations, which makes us human and a bit fearful, as well. Because we are afraid of suffering and vulnerability, we fear them, and that gives them power over us. We make them sometimes more significant than they should be, or we go the other way, and wallow in our suffering, turning into martyrs who cannot ever allow themselves to enjoy life again, because of what they have "suffered." Everyone knows someone like...