Work, Social, Recreation, Family, and Physical Status

A SYNOPSIS OF a children's story entitled "The Bee- Man of Orn" seems a good introduction to one major problem involved in the study of quality of life in cancer patients. 1 In this story, a man lives in dirt and squalor in a small village. He spends his time raising bees. One day a man with magical powers passes through the village and cornes upon the bee-man. As he observes the bee-man's state of living he decides to give him a second chance. He decides he will make the beeman a child once again, and he will place him in a clean, prosperous, and happy home with two loving and ambitious parents. All of this is accomplished in short order, and the man with magical powers leaves the village with a sense of satisfaction that his talents have been well utilized. Many years later, the man with magical powers again passes through the same village, and decides to evaluate the results of his miraculous intervention as they have now reached maturity. To his awe and surprise," he finds the beeman back in the same place, once again living in the same squalor and filth and raising bees. This time, however, the man with magical powers looks a bit more closely and sees something he missed so many years before, a look of contentment and happiness on the face of the bee-man.