In one of the episodes...
Illustration
In one of the episodes of MASH, the sophisticated shell, inside which Major Winchester protects himself from the horror of the suffering and death with which he constantly deals, breaks and he is left defenseless. He goes into a depression in which he struggles to find some answers to life's most perplexing problem -- death. Finally, in utter desperation, he leaves the base hospital and goes up to a battalion aid station where the wounded are first taken. Colonel Potter discovers where he is and calls him, ordering him to return to the MASH hospital. A medical corpsman interupts the conversation and calls the surgeon over to a man who is dying. Winchester confirms the impending death with a glance. The soldier says, "I can't see anything. Hold my hand." The major replies, "I am ..." The soldier moans, "I'm dying ..." and this causes the surgeon's unarticulated questions to surface: "Can you see anything? Can you feel anything? I have to know." But the dying soldier doesn't answer. Instead, he says, "I smell bread." Then he dies, leaving Winchester's questions still unanswered. But that was enough to make the major realize that he can't learn enough about death to bring back the dead from the grave. All he can do is minister to the living and, as Father Mulcahy might put it, "Leave the rest to God." -- Smith
