A Synopsis of The Case of a Disease Giving Purpose Featuring Life is Good by Bert and John Jacobs
Jason worked in events, a job he loved, and he was also a drummer in a band, which fulfilled his passion for music. He was married with two young daughters, and life was pretty good. That was until Jason caught what he thought was the flu. He had a lot of aches and pains and was feeling really rundown.
Then one day, he collapsed at work and was taken to hospital. Examinations were made, and blood tests were taken, the results of which led to the distressing words from Jason’s Doctor: “I’m sorry, but you have gangrene. Both your legs need to be amputated from the knee down.”
Jason had to have robotic limb replacements. He then spent months in rehabilitation, learning to walk again. While in rehab, he became friendly with Zeb, a military veteran. Zeb had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. During his last tour, he had come under attack while driving, causing his car to go out of control. He was pulled from the burning inferno but sadly suffered severe burns to his face and body.
On sharing his story with Jason, Zeb told him how what had happened, had, over time, given him his purpose in his WorkLife.
Zeb gave Jason the book that had helped him along his path to recovery: Life is Good by Bert and John Jacobs. Through simple life lessons, the brothers illuminate ten key “superpowers” accessible to everyone: openness, courage, simplicity, humour, gratitude, fun, compassion, creativity, authenticity and love. Their story shows how to overcome obstacles and embrace opportunity.
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The Case of a Disease Giving Purpose Featuring Life is Good by Bert and John Jacobs is part of the WorkLife Book Club Learning Through Reading series, by Carmel O’ Reilly from School of WorkLife.
The Learning Through Reading series is a collection of stories inspired by real life WorkLife struggles and successes, presented as case studies for group discussion. The case and the accompanying recommended book will be required reading for each meeting, and will help to frame the subsequent discussion.
The premise behind the WorkLife Book Club Learning Through Reading series is that experiences we have in our WorkLife shape our understanding of the world. Stories help communicate truths about human behaviours and relationships, bringing an opportunity for change and development. Books help anchor WorkLife conversations through characters, plots and settings, enabling a range of issues to be worked through.
My stated mission is to guide learning through reading. I also have a secret mission, which is to draw attention to stories of change and active decision making – people standing up and saying they want to do something different with their WorkLife. I want to highlight stories, books and discussions that focus on in-depth portrayals of subjects inner feelings, thoughts and motivations. While readers will not encounter the exact scenarios they read about, they will be able to use an increasingly finely tuned ability to understand and respond to multiple competing viewpoints.
Carmel O’ Reilly, WorkLife learning practitioner, writer and founder of School of WorkLife. Author of WorkLife Book Club: Volume One: Shoreditch.