The Pompous Hero

This celebrates the unsung hero Dr Gary Low-Beer, a psychiatrist who during the sixties and seventies travelled to Russia to to free Russian dissidents sent to mental hospitals to keep them quiet.

The Pompous Hero

He exuded the pomposity

of medicine's worst belligerence,

yet he was a god among mortals.

He discarded me, a mere staff nurse,

like dirt from his well trodden shoe.

His pot bellied arrogance

tasted like bile in my young mouth.

His disregard for humility

appeared like a Nazi flag

raising my hackles to his being.

Meant to be a doctor

there to save the insane

and yet who seemed to see himself

above caring.

And yet in truth he hid himself

to free the souls of others

and the world from persecution.

Psychiatrist by day,

freedom fighter

in the dark recesses

of Russian night,

where incarceration was

a political tool

to muzzle the righteous.

And there he risked freedom

to fight the Stalinist

corruption of the still

Bolshevik state.

A place where psychiatry

was fashioned into a sickle

with which to cut dissent

at its roots.

And he travelled,

exposed,

to reclaim that harvest.

A man alone,

a true oak

who stood against

oppression.

 

11/07/15

Author's Note

Reviews

[R Smith]

a fine tribute John to a man i'm sure has never received his due recognition, I know its the first I have heard of him so thank you for this enlightening poem :)

[Leslie Philibert]

Great background, and an interesting poem,excellently written. And I seem to detect even, from you,a slightly critical view, he seems to be a difficult person, but one who works against the misuse of pyschaitric hospitals in Russia,enjoyed this.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Indeed he was Leslie. The Jewish Chronicle has many references to his works. Many thanks.

[~]

A courageous man. There were many things that were wrong within that system, and he was willing to risk his life to claim those that were sentenced to die.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

He was in his own peculiar way. He was rescuing Russian Jews from state political mental hospitals. Thank you MS

[andrew mitchell]

Clockwork Orange music film great! This write is excellent I thought of Orwell's Animal farm and 1984 for some reason! lol To think this did happen and somewhere today

[John Alexander McFadyen]

I am just surprised that he is not better known. Many thanks Andrew.

[wordman]

a deep write john,sounds like a tower of a man

[John Alexander McFadyen]

He was indeed WM. Many thanks.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

kind of like Jimmy Dean's "Big John"

didn't mess with him, stood above other men, including in his mind...yet accomplished so much in saving lives...
maybe the attitude was a cover...if he seemed so into himself, who would have thought he would have cared enough to help others.

"A clockwork Orange" classic...

[John Alexander McFadyen]

He was achieving much and at personal risk. Thanks Jacob.

[Einstein Noodle]

have never heard of him ..could not find much about him with Google .. will certainly keep trying ... sounds as if he was a very colorful personality ..both the face put on and the one that counts .. generally speaking there is so little the west knows of Russia and all its secrets .. perhaps never will ... you have a fine use of language and the free verse works very well in my opinion ..thank you again for your tribute to someone that should most certainly be applauded .. i read below that you met him .. what a distinct honor it must have felt like!
E.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Yes he was a psychiatrist where I trained a s a nurse. It was not till later I discovered that her travelled often to Russia, at great personal risk, tom gain the freedom of dissidents held in Russian asylums.

[....................]

Sometimes heroes hide themselves so as not to stand out... sometimes these aren't masks at all and they still have huge hearts... I have never heard of him... will have to go read a little... thanks for sharing, John

[John Alexander McFadyen]

As a nineteen year old I met this man but did not know his heroism at that time. Thank you FT.

[....................]

Must have been quite the eye opener when you learned of his heroism...

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Indeed it was.

[Willard Wells]

Great tribute but I have to say I saw the clip from CO and have not seen the movie in a bit and I had to watch the whole clip. Then I had to remind myself I was here to read something. And something very good. I am trying to sneak up on this style as some of my work lately I like but maybe a different format would give it what it needs. Thank you for a fine piece.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Thank you Willard. This is a true experience. I met this man.

[Willard Wells]

Now that is a hero to meet. You are a lucky man to have met him.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

At the time I did not know it and it set my view of psychiatrists but he was a hero.

[StellaW]

Stumble across this fine poem, just exactly how I remembered him.