Them's Fightin' Words

I understand that people have their own idiosyncrasies and kooky things they say and do, that’s the beauty of being human, I get that.

Some people, when they’re taking a photo they say “cheese” – that’s pretty stock standard. We’ve all been cheesed at some point in our lives.

Other people, they might say something more fitting for the occasion, like say they’re taking a shot of a winning sport’s team, they might tell them to all say “FUCK YEAH!” or something else along those lines, I dunno, fuck me it’s been a long day.

Everyone in our office got a huge shock a few weeks back when one of the women we work with (we’ll call her Lisa) who we love dearly and who is married with two kids was diagnosed with cancer.

I personally have all the time in the world for Lisa because she’s an honest, hard-working and happy person who I’ve always gotten along with really well and who I have a lot of respect for. It was a hard blow for us all when she announced she had been diagnosed with cancer and was starting chemo treatment the following week.

She’s too young for this shit. Why the fuck. Why the fuck do the worst things happen to the best people?

We all wore bandanas to work today and posed for a group pic that we could send to Lisa. Something small, a gesture of kindness at a time when she needs it most.

We had to get someone from the office next door to take the pic and when this person had the shot all lined up, what did she tell us to smile and say?

“Cancer.”

She told us to smile and say cancer.

It was a moment of sublime ignorance, one that would usually make me crack up because of how wrong it was, but not today.

Today my faith in our kind decreased by one, I dunno, today I just felt shitty about everything, just fucking shitty about fucking everything.

I think that people block a lot of life out because if you had to stop and think about it all you’d lose your fucking mind.

Lisa shouldn’t have to suffer like she is.

If you believe in the healing power of a kind thought, spare one for Lisa. She’s a good person, one of the few, and I know she’ll get better, she has to get better.

I know she’ll get better.

 

 

-ST