the big C

I heard yesterday from a friend whose wife has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. This morning I read an absolutely beautiful column by Susan Estrich (a brilliant lawyer and writer, even if she leans a little to the left of me) about her friend in the Chemo room. It seems as though I am more and more meeting people who are hindered by Cancer. My friend told me that it has always been around, but now it has a personal pronoun in front of it (I, me, my). I guess that is probably true. We can go through life and not see the pain of those around us, or their heroism, peace, joy, service and many other factors. I hate to think of myself as that self-involved, but I am. I miss the people around me who do for others and only see the ones who do for me. I hope that can change. I need to open my eyes to the struggles and strengths of those around me, because life is such an amazing tapestry. God's creation is truly beautiful and humans have such a capacity for goodness, but usually all we concentrate on is the evil that men do and the damage that they do. Let's do something different and look for the good in life, it might make us better people to see the example of the neighbor who cares for an ailing parent, rather than the example of the pop star who is in an ever downward spiral.