Fadi
...
I sat by myself contemplating and reflecting; why is it that everytime the word cancer is made mention of, it’s made with the utmost negativity and hostility. I ask you to give this matter a thought, a few minutes of your time, and see why is it that people always seem to be waging war on this word cancer. If a person you know acquires it, the seemingly correct and most appropriate way in dealing with it would be to: “kill it, obliterate it, annihilate it, fight it, wipe it off, and eradicate it”, just to mention a sample of what one would usually hear (or say) whenever cancer is mentioned.
Please do not misunderstand my intention here. I’m not setting out to pass judgement on the way you feel or deal with this word, I’m simply saying surely, surely there must be another side to this coin (as there most certainly is with everything in life, big or small). Would you agree with me on that?
To me, this goes beyond simply attitude; negative or positive attitude, a pessimistic or optimistic attitude one might have. Usually one may be able to find one’s attitude towards things by asking the most famous of “attitude” related questions: is the glass half full or half empty?
So, attitude aside, I think we have all been brainwashed in one way or another to think of cancer as one giant ugly and most dangerous boogieman, where in actual fact, it may be the only thing that would ultimately save your life!
Let us for a moment shine the light on the title of this small reflective message of mine if you don’t mind: friend or foe? Well, how do you define a friend and distinguish him/her from a foe? To me, a friend is one who does not sugar coat his or her words with you just to make you feel good. A true friend is one who tells it like it is, warts and all. If I see you lifting in a way that I know would sooner or later lead you into injury, I would not be a friend (or a caring stranger) if I keep to myself and let you go on with your bad form of lifting. A foe would in fact encourage you and praise you for lifting with bad form, all along making it sound as if he’s really looking out for you.
Now that I’ve explained briefly the way I understand a friend to be, and the distinction made between him and a foe, I ask you, would it be fair to always consider cancer to be a foe, or might it not in fact be the best and truest friend that you may ever hear about in your life?
We’ve all heard of “a wakeup call”. So and so needed a wakeup call to lose weight etc. Had the doctor not told him of the predictable dire straits awaiting him if he does not lose the weight, a heart attack or a stroke would surely be imminent.
To me cancer is the mother of all “wake up” calls. It’s a huge warning sign; the biggest, the boldest, and the most shocking of them all! It makes you reflect on the life-path you have chosen for yourself. A path involving whatever you ingest, inject, breath, or stress over. It sets some of us on an alternative route. A route where we see ourselves taking drastic measures to, (not so much beat the hell out of it), but measures to ask why! Take measures to go deep within and reflect on how your life has been progressing so far. So from that end, I’d like to think of cancer as the friend who is the most honest of them all. Just think for a moment, hypertension is called “the silent killer” for a reason. Its symptoms would (mostly) go unnoticed until one suffers the first and last heart attack or stroke!
Next time you hear the word cancer, please listen out to what verbs come after it, and what adjectives are used to describe it…., then reflect, as I have done.
Wishing you all the very best of health, and always remember that old, yet forever young saying: ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.
Fadi.
Please do not misunderstand my intention here. I’m not setting out to pass judgement on the way you feel or deal with this word, I’m simply saying surely, surely there must be another side to this coin (as there most certainly is with everything in life, big or small). Would you agree with me on that?
To me, this goes beyond simply attitude; negative or positive attitude, a pessimistic or optimistic attitude one might have. Usually one may be able to find one’s attitude towards things by asking the most famous of “attitude” related questions: is the glass half full or half empty?
So, attitude aside, I think we have all been brainwashed in one way or another to think of cancer as one giant ugly and most dangerous boogieman, where in actual fact, it may be the only thing that would ultimately save your life!
Let us for a moment shine the light on the title of this small reflective message of mine if you don’t mind: friend or foe? Well, how do you define a friend and distinguish him/her from a foe? To me, a friend is one who does not sugar coat his or her words with you just to make you feel good. A true friend is one who tells it like it is, warts and all. If I see you lifting in a way that I know would sooner or later lead you into injury, I would not be a friend (or a caring stranger) if I keep to myself and let you go on with your bad form of lifting. A foe would in fact encourage you and praise you for lifting with bad form, all along making it sound as if he’s really looking out for you.
Now that I’ve explained briefly the way I understand a friend to be, and the distinction made between him and a foe, I ask you, would it be fair to always consider cancer to be a foe, or might it not in fact be the best and truest friend that you may ever hear about in your life?
We’ve all heard of “a wakeup call”. So and so needed a wakeup call to lose weight etc. Had the doctor not told him of the predictable dire straits awaiting him if he does not lose the weight, a heart attack or a stroke would surely be imminent.
To me cancer is the mother of all “wake up” calls. It’s a huge warning sign; the biggest, the boldest, and the most shocking of them all! It makes you reflect on the life-path you have chosen for yourself. A path involving whatever you ingest, inject, breath, or stress over. It sets some of us on an alternative route. A route where we see ourselves taking drastic measures to, (not so much beat the hell out of it), but measures to ask why! Take measures to go deep within and reflect on how your life has been progressing so far. So from that end, I’d like to think of cancer as the friend who is the most honest of them all. Just think for a moment, hypertension is called “the silent killer” for a reason. Its symptoms would (mostly) go unnoticed until one suffers the first and last heart attack or stroke!
Next time you hear the word cancer, please listen out to what verbs come after it, and what adjectives are used to describe it…., then reflect, as I have done.
Wishing you all the very best of health, and always remember that old, yet forever young saying: ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.
Fadi.
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