Blood and Honey

BLOOD & HONEY presents a radically different view of what it means to live with diabetes. This feature-length documentary film will enable audiences to see the chronically ill in a way they never could have imagined: as a valuable resource.

We live in a society that views the chronically ill as victims because we only see the negative side of suffering. As a result, the person with diabetes is primed to view their experience as something to be pitied. We all lose.

BirdsThe issues associated with chronic illness—uncertainty, loss, change, mortality—are common to us all. Yet people with diabetes must grapple with these issues daily. Sometimes hourly. Diabetes never takes a vacation.

Whether we're facing the death of a parent, the loss of a job, the pain of divorce, or the hardship of chronic illness, we all struggle with how to cope. Most people spend their entire lives trying to escape these painful issues. But some choose to confront them head-on.

People who have lived with diabetes for years are in a unique position. Those who choose to face their problems acquire hard-earned knowledge about how to both accept and transcend suffering. And yet, the insights gained from their struggles remain their own.

This film will pose the simple but bold question: How can everyone benefit from the wisdom of those who have spent years learning how to live well in the face of such unremitting pain and suffering?

With great candor, three women and men who have lived with diabetes for over twenty years show us how their lives and self-awareness have been transformed. They live with restrictions that require great discipline. At first they experienced the necessary changes as a loss of freedom. But today they also recognize the invaluable knowledge, depth, and perspectives they have gained. They are our mentors.

Malidoma Patrice Some'Other guides—such as African medicine man Malidoma Patrice Some', philosopher Susan Wendell, psychologist Barbara Anderson, and Guatemalan shaman Martin Prechtel—will share their understanding of how facing adversity strengthens us. They will shed light on how undergoing a crisis can serve as an initiation into a new phase of growth.

Through the lens of these teachers, our culture will be forever altered as we come to re-envision such adversity as an essential contribution to our evolution as human beings.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• grassroots
• outreach
• nonprofit
• public
• service
• announcements
• diabetes
• chronic
• illness
• uncertainty
• loss
• change
• mortality
• Oprah
• Winfrey
• Michael
• Jackson
• painkillers
• prescription
• medication
• death
• Man
• in
• the
• Mirror
• Farrah
• Fawcett
• Nick
• Jonas
• b.b.
• King
• Oliver
• Sacks
• Andrew
• Weil
• M.D.
• cancer
• arthritis
• lou
• gehrig's
• disease
• ALS
• fibromyalgia
• fatigue
• syndrome
• cystic
• fibrosis
• AIDS
• heart
• attacks
• strokes
• migraines
• tourette
• autism
• M.S.
• multiple
• schlerosis
• cerebral
• palsy
• deaf
• blind
• wheel
• chair

[TheSugarpuffy]

The pain, the suffering went away... Sometimes we just need to feel and even if it hurts, it could be we are healing physically, if not physically, we are healing somehow...

[TheSugarpuffy]

When I suffered, and was in pain, the kind I have never felt before. I thought I was going to die, or that i wanted to at times... I didn't use cold compresses, warm rags, or medication- I decided to just feel it. I don't know why I did that. My own body would just sleep on its own. I couldn't fight the sleep, I slept and I slept, for almost a month I was in a daze. My own body handled the pain, the suffering, all I had to do was submit.

[olallie]

This is beautiful BUT...I didn't see Martin Prechtel!!!! Who is the shaman, the hispanic looking man...not Martin for sure!

[noneisneeded]

I want to see this.

[kostaother]

Beautiful

[ajaxfilms]

Thanx for posting. Oprah may have fear but she also is too self absorbed to really care about anything but ratings.

[PoorLittleGreenbird]

Thank you for posting this.