The depth of suffering that one sees at Duke University Hospital actually has the power to anesthetize the part of the brain, or perhaps the part of the soul, that is capable of comprehending pain. It’s like the part of my brain that normally is very capable of thinking about suffering has gone to the dentist to get a tooth pulled, and the dentist gave my brain a shot of lidocaine and some laughing gas, and now everything is vaguely distant and dull.