DISCUSSION GUIDE
NEED A LITTLE HELP DISCUSSING ARROW OR YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
WITH A HEART ATTACK OR HEART TRANSPLANT—OR ANY TRAUMATIC CHANGE?
For questions and discussion topics that you can print out, click DISCUSSION GUIDE. It is dedicated to a couple who attended a speech I gave in upstate New York. Their story inspired me to invite you to use this Discussion Guide not just in your book club or classroom, but also in talking with family and friends—or even in a little private chat with yourself. Here is what happened at that speech.
Not waiting for the applause to fully subside after my talk, a man stood up, his copy of ARROW in hand. “You saved our marriage,” he announced. “Before my heart attack, I’d been one of those guys who wore the pants in our family. After I got sick, my wife thought I’d turned into a big baby because I was afraid of everything, afraid of living. She no longer recognized me in this scaredy-cat at the kitchen table.”
He described how her doubt filled him with doubt, and the depression and alienation that followed. Now, to tell you the truth, I was a little embarrassed at such an intimate report in front of 300 people—even more so when I realized that the woman standing close to the speaker was his “heartless” wife, looking at him lovingly.
“Your book helped us to talk with each other for the first time about all we had been through together. Our confused emotions nearly destroyed our happy marriage!”
Then he embraced his wife and they were crying and the audience was crying and the panel of doctors and I were crying, until one of the docs said something really funny and saved us all.
HAVE MORE IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION?
What would you like discussed about ARROW or the experience of trauma and sudden change? I am counting on you to send me your ideas through the contact form in BUY/CONTACT. Thanks for your help as I continue to develop this website for YOU!
Available as an eBook at online retailers and at your local bookstore. All my book-related earnings are donated to cardiac causes. So, buy a book and save a life!