Cultural Encounters: A Journal For The Theology Of Culture Volume 10 Number 1 (Winter 2014) | Page 7

VOLUME 10 NUMBER 1 2014 UNCOMFORTABLY NUMB ON HEALTH CARE REFORM Paul Louis Metzger Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and Discomfort over Health Care You may be familiar with Pink Floyd’s classic song “Comfortably Numb,” which appears on the album The Wall.1 The song is about the character Pink’s battle to deal with the world as a result of his abandonment and isolation. The song fits within the framework of The Wall as a concept album. Pink experienced the loss of his dad during World War II and his teachers’ hostilities growing up. Although he is now a rock star who performs to adoring masses, his early experiences have led him to separate himself from the surrounding society; a symbolic wall signifies this separation. There is no see ming interpersonal connection in the song “Comfortably Numb” between Pink and the medical doctor who inspects him, just as there is no such connection between Pink and other authority figures on the album, such as his teachers. The doctor is not really trying to help him. The doctor is there to assist Pink’s management, to get him back on his feet with an injection so that Pink can perform a concert that evening, and they can make their money. One does not need to be a Pink Floyd fan to understand that the trauma we experience on account of personal abandonment and isolation in life can lead us to build walls that separate us further from society at large. And yet, one may wonder how one can be comfortably numb: how can one experience comfort when one is numb? Should not the apparent comfort we experience from being numb make us “feel” quite uncomfortable? Consider the numbness many people throughout our society are experiencing presently on the subject of health care. There are so many factors to consider, including concern over how our market society shapes the discussion. As  Paul Louis Metzger is Professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture at Multnomah Biblical Seminary/Multnomah University and Director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins; [email protected]. 1. Pink Floyd, The Wall (album), UK: Harvest Records/EMI Records, 1979; The Wall (film), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1982. 3