During last Friday’s TV popular show, Xarabank, the charismatic former Labour Minister Evarist Bartolo, accompanied by one of his brothers Nationalist vice-mayor Envin Bartolo, recounted how as a mischievous eight-year-old, he climbed up a cupboard to get hold to some food snacks, and unfortunately the solid pine cupboard fell onto him, nearly killing him in the process.
To this very day he still is surprised how his dear mother came to his rescue, and succeeded in lifting the solid wood cupboard with one hand, while pulling Evarist out from underneath the cupboard with the other.
I had to go back to consult my medical text books for an explanation as to how Evarist’s mother achieved such a feat, which is common in similar circumstances – such as when a 5-foot, 9-stone mother suddenly finds herself able to lift a car that has run over her child.
A thalamic search occurs when a person receives a stimulus so powerful that the thalamus (part of the brain) explodes into action, bombarding the brain with messages that cannot be ignored.
The thalamus is the most primitive part of the brain, a blob of grey matter that sends sensory stimuli to the cerebral cortex. Hence it is completely sub-rational and evokes our most primordial instincts from the dawn of time.
The emotional experience his mother underwent when seeing her son in that position was one of being under threat – the stimulus which send the thalamus on sensory overload resulting in her lifting the solid cupboard with one hand and pulling Evarist out with the other.
That explains it in medical terms, Evarist. Thank you, dear mother!
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