The Big “C”


The Big “C”


On 15 October I learned I have cancer. More specifically, a squamous cell carcinoma currently sitting on my left tonsil and I’ve no doubt my 40+ years of using smokeless tobacco contributed to this development. For many people, learning they or a loved one have “cancer” is a devastating blow. Given the line of work I’m in, I’ve come to appreciate the concept of resiliency in the face of personal crises and try to aid clients as they seek a way through their individual struggles. Now, I have (yet another) opportunity to put into practice what I preach.

I’ve always been a half-full glass sort of person. If told I’m incapable of doing or learning something, I frequently take it as a personal challenge to prove the naysayers wrong. My ninth-grade algebra teacher, after barely passing his class, advised me not to take geometry in high school because, in his estimation, I would almost certainly fail. Admittedly, I was not particularly optimistic about my chances of mastering geometry at that point either, so I followed his advice until I graduated high school. Several years later though, I decided to teach myself algebra and trigonometry. Despite setbacks, I persisted and eventually successfully completed a year of university-level calculus—along with courses in calculus-based physics and electrical engineering.

In recent years I’ve developed a keen interest in the First and Second World Wars and through that topic, I’ve come to a profound admiration for Sir Winston S. Churchill, despite the occasionally valid points his later critics have made.i As the diagnosis process unfolded, the final line from Churchill’s “Their Finest Hour” speech of 18 June 1940, kept coming back to me.

"Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”1

The phrase that stuck out for me was “...and so bear ourselves...” The way I “bear myself” in this coming struggle will, in the end, no matter the final outcome, say volumes about my character as a human being and, just perhaps, fortify others who will come to deal with similar challenges in their own lives.

While I do not relish the idea of telling my friends and family of this sobering news, the person I most dreaded telling was my mother. My mother is a very conservative evangelical Christian and was certain to see this as a literal “come to Jesus” moment. After a great deal of reflection, the tack I decided to take when breaking the news to my parents was to recognize and acknowledge the role their faith would play for them in providing comfort and solace in these circumstances. In turn, I pointed out since I do not share their faith, I asked them recognize and acknowledge the simple fact that the reason cancer no longer automatically entails a death sentence is not because an increase in the effectiveness of prayer, but because of science, and my strategy will be the same as that of the Mark Watney character in the film The Martian, “In the face of overwhelming odds, I’m left with only one option, I’m gonna have to science the shit out of this.”ii While not stranded on an otherwise uninhabited planet, it’s close enough for me.

From time to time as my journey proceeds, I will document here those of my thoughts I wish to share with what readers I may have.

Endnotes:

i  Like any historical figure, Churchill's character, conduct, and legacy should judged by the standards of their time, not our own. As a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln (as was Churchill himself), I freely admit that, during his public life, Lincoln said things we would consider overtly racist today, or at least before the 2016 presidential election. Likewise, Churchill said things about India, and Indians like Gandhi and Nehru, that were incontestably racist by the standards of the 21st century.

Against this though, any intellectually honest critic of Churchill is obligated--otherwise, I'm not obligated to give a damn what they think--to acknowledge that Churchill was clear-sighted enough in 1931 to foresee the likely results of the British withdrawal from, and partitioning of, British India into a Hindu/Brahmin India and a Muslim-dominated Pakistan, in which as many 2 million people were killed when Britain withdrew in 1947.


ii During the press tours leading up the the release of the film The Martian, Andy Weir, the author of the novel on which the film was based, readily credits the line to the screenwriter Drew Goddard, frequently saying he can only wish he'd come up with it.





Works Cited:

1. ‘Their Finest Hour’ Int. Churchill Soc. (18 Jun. 1940). at <https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/their-finest-hour/>9 Oct. 2019






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