How much is a human life worth? Fifty-thousand dollars? One million dollars? One billion dollars? There is absolutely no way to put a price (monetarily) on a human life. All the experiences, connections, and emotions felt over the course of a lifetime cannot be summed up with any amount of money. When you realize the true worth of a human life; that is when you can begin to ameliorate your understanding of what a surgeon goes through day in and day out. It’s a career that’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Most people will never experience the feeling of having another human being’s life in their hands.

A surgery room is usually associated with nothing but blood and gore; but with Selzer’s incredible use of imagery, he presents his craft as rather a work of art than a horror movie scene. Vividly painting a picture with his words, Selzer’s use of colors and descriptive speech paints a picture for us, as if we were actually there and could see the “green of the cloth, the white of the sponges, the red and yellow of the body.” The first sentence of the essay reads, “One holds the knife as one holds the bow of a cello or a tulip-by the stem. Not palmed nor grasped, but lightly, with the tips of the fingers.” The only physical connection between Selzer and the patient is with the knife and his touch to it has to be a soft one, symbolizing the dextral precision needed for the procedure. This soft grip is used by artists also. While artists have a little more room for error I feel that the connection between a serious artist and his works must be the same connection a surgeon and his patient must have. Both the artist and the surgeon strive to make sure each stroke of their tool count; and make a positive change to their respective