I assure you, though, there is nothing trite about coming down with Guillain-Barre syndrome. For the person hit by it, it's war and revolution wrapped in one: A catastrophe, an upheaval, a devastating blow. But also an invaluable experience and a possibility for renewal. I wouldn't be what I am now, a man at peace with himself and the world, had I not come down with, and fought back from, this terrible ailment. But I don't want to sound excessive. It isn't terminal cancer at young age, or trauma-induced coma and vegetative state; but, as Joseph Heller said, it's no laughing matter, either....