Hunter Patch Adams is the main character in the film Patch Adams. Hunter was lost and confused when he checked himself into a mental hospital after attempting suicide. Faced with life's uncertainties, he realized he needed medical help. Throughout the film, it is easy to see how his character grows and uses the process of discernment to make sense of his life as well as the lives of other people he has come into contact with. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay At the psychiatric hospital, Patch is able to take the time needed to make a clear choice about what he will do with his life with his head and his heart. Arthur Mendelson, one of the hospital's patients, shows Patch how to look beyond the problem to find his answers. Later that evening, he helps his roommate Rudy kill the imaginary squirrels. That's when Patch realized the answer he was looking for. He realizes that he wants to help people, learn about people and listen to them. Rudy and the other patients at the mental hospital helped him help himself. He was able to forget his own problems while helping others forget theirs. He leaves the hospital to make his dream come true. The discernment process consists of four basic principles: incarnation, giving and being abandoned, universality and communion. The principle of incarnation and death reminds us that we must not waste time but show our love here and now because there may not be another chance. (Wolff 125) Giving and being given up is exactly that, giving all that is possible to improve the human condition. while accepting others and being able to serve them with truer love. (Wolff 125) Universality is the ability to view all humans, regardless of race, ethnicity, and origin, as equal. The final principle of communion embodies unity. When we as human beings come together, that is when we can love everyone. Revealing Patch's unique characteristics throughout the film, Patch clearly shows us how he was able to integrate the four criteria of the discernment process. Patch was able to accept others around him as they were. In the hospital and with his classmates, he treated everyone with respect and dignity. He gave to everyone who needed help, even when he needed it. He opened the clinic with Arthur's help but sacrificed his salary as well as his sleep and study time to help the sick. This helped Patch be in communion with his world. He was capable of feeling separate from something special. Patch clearly demonstrates the principle of agape. He did and worked for the good of others and for himself indirectly. When he begins visiting patients at the medical school's hospital, he helps the sick patients feel better by helping them forget their illness and pain. Patch's passion for helping people leads him to decide that as a doctor, he wants to improve the quality of life of the patients under his care. His stay in the psychiatric hospital and his experience with the doctor showed him that it was necessary to have a doctor who truly cares about his patients and who listens to them. He knew that after helping Rudy, he had the ability to help people. He then decided to go to medical school to begin his journey. Listening to your heart is also something Patch did well. He shows this when he goes to the hospital and sees the woman being refused to see her daughter.