hospitals

hm, i seem to be coming into contact with hospitals quite abit recently. and no, not as a patient. well tt observation is probably just a pretext for me to um, talk about them some.

the etymology of "hospital" probably comes from something to the effect of "hospice" rather than "hospitable" (although "hospice" does also have something of "hospitable" in its own etymology). "patient" on the other hand, comes from a word meaning "to suffer". in that sense, the patient in the hospital is a more accurate use of the word's root than say the virtue "patience". i suppose "patience" is the figurative use of it, since "patience" is often replaced by "longsuffering", which makes perfect sense. 

several contemplative (? thought? logic?) experiments later (or maybe the word is just "musings" which is amusing, admittedly..) and there r several things of interest (well at least to me). 1- a patient goes to a hospitable hospital. 2- a patient goes for hospice care in a hospital. 3- a patient patient goes to hospital. now i guess consider all the inverse situations, and all the possible permutations and combinations and... u get something very trivial! ah well, i thought it was funny to think about the etymologies...

lets see, on the figurative level, what does a hospital represent/ symbolize? a caring institution of healing and convalescence? a hell hole of sickness and disease? a warm, sensitive environment? or a cold, sterile corporation only thinking of turning a profit? is a hospital a refuge of hope or a stockade of despair (well, an exaggeration unless u hv a terminal illness or something i guess..) 

well sensibly, u dun go to a hospital for superficial problems. for that a visit to the clinic would suffice. so i guess the hospital in a sense is a weightier institution. but i guess u can still be a patient anywhere, and theres very little to identify u; perhaps u'd identify yourself as either a hospital patient or a clinic patient. heh. owell..

well i guess for most part, the operation (ahahahaha) of a hospital isnt particularly fascinating, but its interesting how it finds its way into art as a symbol or a setting. well ok, i dont think this consideration is complete, but, ive kinda run out of the obvious ideas. another time then.