Measuring Human Suffering

Human suffering is the kind of experience that people undergo in the event of a certain occurrence that inflicts sufferings. Tuchman (1979), has exploited the experiences that people from that time went through. After the fall of Calais, Messina harbor was packed with the ships contain suffering people from unknown diseases completely strange and devastating. One could only survive for five days after the first signs of the disease. Those who were infected could go through pain and sufferings coupled with the death of cells as seen in the large egg-like growths on their bodies seen on their armpits. Because of the swelling on the victims oozed blood on the regions after which puts appeared with a foul smell so agonizing for the victims. Plague killed thousands of people in many areas according to Tuchman. This paper will exploit the sufferings that human beings go through in their daily lives and at work. In this article, the human sufferings have been reflected through coverage of the sections that point at the spread of the plague from the believed country of origin (China) to other countries of the world. The kinds of media through which the plague spread are covered in the text in a systematic way, also, mentioning the casualties in cities as well as people’s reaction to it (Tuchman, 1979). Some cities like Paris in France and places in Italy are explained to have experienced the worst effects after the plagues largely affected their economic activities. Italy had a vision of constructing the world’s biggest construction, however, which failed to materialize due to the death of many of its workforce. Finally, the paper will conclude by an observatory opinion on the issue of the plagues that befell the countries and a comparison.  Plagues are the most dreaded causes of human deaths for many years now. According to Tuchman, many people succumb to the sufferings and illnesses that accompany plagues. An obvious example used is the Messina harbor where the ship carrying many sailors docked with the majority of them dying. Their illnesses could not be defined in any way. However, the rate at which infection went on caused many deaths among those on board. Because of the many challenges that face human beings, they fail to confront the many issues such as plagues in their ways that could be possible. Some conditions are so hard to predict and even control the outcomes of the event. The soldiers from the stories written by some on their working in regions like Iraq have indicated the kind of difficulty they go through (Tuchman, 1979). To begin with, the challenging weather conditions that hindered them from sailing to their destination. Further explaining the aggravated issue is that the prevailing circumstances made it even harder for them to access their essential services such as taking a bath. Many soldiers were waiting for the tough weather conditions to cease so that they could continue traveling. From this case, it can be deduced that human sufferings are contributed by some natural occurrences such as harsh weather conditions. Soldiers explored this book on the issues affecting soldiers reveals the issues facing them which are numerous and would not be skipped at by any means.  The plague went spreading throughout the rest of the world in various countries that were mostly accessible by sea. The spread could be noted through the infections that affected the people of these countries. Ships that had earlier been used by individuals who later died of the plague also came to infect more people after the contact with the ship. A surprising fact on this is that the virus could be transmitted through many ways that include contact of infected items. In Europe where there were no reported cases of deaths or even infections from the diseases, later came to experience the deadly plague after ships that had been earlier used by sailors from China and Messina were taken to their area (Tuchman, 1979).   In Europe, an estimated number of people ranging to thousands died of the disease after the ships visited their country. Eleven thousand people reported being buried in a single grave after the deaths had risen. In towns and cities, families were wiped out completely while others few people managed to survive. Almost half of the total country’s population perished in the event of the devastating plague. Only a small number of individuals who were found to be interior villages survived, however, other villages that got visits were wiped out completely. Major blow to this country befell the larger inhabitants as they were killed since they could get in contact with the travelers whom probably had contracted the plague. On the other side, deaths that occurred in London overwhelmed the inhabitants that they could only do what they could (Evans, 2003). Deaths of the relatives and other members of the families had increased to a level that one could not find coffins to be bury then in. Burial places were already filled up, and the only thing the families of the deceased could do was to dump the bodies in mass graves together with others. Burials had increased that no one could adhere to his or her burial rites during burials of his or her loved ones. Shockingly, the extent of the deaths had forced the people to perform simple burials, or they could simply dump the bodies on the sites.  In Paris, about 800 people died per day which in comparison to other world cities was considerably lower. The plague in France affected the cities consequently killing the town people who are the city dwellers. It killed half of the city populations within a year after the start of infection of the inhabitants. The plague had worsened the countries crisis that had occurred earlier causing deaths of people due to the effects of prolonged droughts. In monasteries, the effects were worse just like any other place in France. Petrarch’s brother who was in the monastery is the only one who was left after the plague killed all the other monks in the monastery that he buried them all one by one until all had been buried then a ran, “…buried the prior and the 34 fellow monks one by one…” (Evans, 2003). In Italy, the highly populated city in the world due to is the economic impact that attracted many people who flocked in search of jobs. The city with a population of 10-11 million people suffered so many challenges because of Fluorine bankruptcies. It is during this peak season of calamities that plagues hit the city wiping out thousands of the population. Because of the plague, people left work and the then ongoing project to make the cathedral, the biggest in the world failed. Contrary to the issues caused by the plagues in the world at the time, it can be noted that the soldiers went through some challenges in their struggle at their work. The high ranked members of the forces could receive the best medical services, but still, there were worries because of the anticipated war that lay ahead of them. Soldiers experience a lot regarding war-related challenges that leave most of them crippled for life if lucky not to be killed. The part is talking about the disabled soldiers after the war, “it was horrible to see all the soldiers with missing legs and arms and bandages everywhere.” This point one can see the human sufferings that befell these soldiers during the war. The effects that one gets in case they get hit in war are lifetime sufferings (Evans, 2003).  Human suffering comes that have been discussed above are just a glimpse of the challenges that face people in their daily activities. As a fact, it is known that casualty arrives in a mysterious way that no one can counter. The outbreak of the plague that killed many people during the 1349 periods was so shocking since it seemed to have been a surprise to many. I believe there were more advanced measures that could have been adopted to prevent the killings by the plague. However, what seems to have hindered the people greatly were their concern of personal nature rather than the product of the whole population. Nations are supposed to have come together so that they could fight the outbreak of the disease that wiped out thousands of people in the face of the world. I think ignorance is the main thing that hampered these people that they could not think much beyond their areas of work. Countries could not jointly work together signifying lack of unity among nations by then. Lack of expertise among the countries facilitated the spread of plague that could have been fought long before it could spread. I think after the plague the world learned to respect other people and started working together henceforth.

References

Evans, H. (2003). War stories: reporting in the time of conflict from the Crimea to Iraq. New York: Bunker Hill Publishing, Inc.. Tuchman, B. W. (1979). A distant mirror: The calamitous 14th century. California: Ballantine Books.