Peter Jennings
Today news broke that Peter Jennings has lung cancer. My first thought was, "How awful." My second less refined selfish thought was--Maybe this will bring some awareness to the issue.
And so far it has, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in how some of the press is being played out. As usual, it's all about smoking.
I don't think there's any other disease on the planet that people get and are made to feel so guilty about. When people get the kinds of cancers that are linked to obesity no one automatically goes, "Guess you should have laid off the twinkies." But when a person mentions they have lung cancer, "Did you smoke?" is the first thing out of people's mouths.
We can't talk about lung cancer to let people know that it is the #1 cancer killer out there or that over 50% of the time it isn't caught until the late stages. We can't talk about the fact that research for lung cancer is severely underfunded. No... all we can talk about is how it's the fault of people who have it. How fair is that?? Not only are they punched in the stomach by the awfulness of having lung cancer, but they're also made to feel guilty for having it. That's messed up.
It just makes me angry. So very angry. I know it comes from the natural inclination for wanting a reason for suffering, but can't people stop and think about the words flying out of their mouths?
And so far it has, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in how some of the press is being played out. As usual, it's all about smoking.
I don't think there's any other disease on the planet that people get and are made to feel so guilty about. When people get the kinds of cancers that are linked to obesity no one automatically goes, "Guess you should have laid off the twinkies." But when a person mentions they have lung cancer, "Did you smoke?" is the first thing out of people's mouths.
We can't talk about lung cancer to let people know that it is the #1 cancer killer out there or that over 50% of the time it isn't caught until the late stages. We can't talk about the fact that research for lung cancer is severely underfunded. No... all we can talk about is how it's the fault of people who have it. How fair is that?? Not only are they punched in the stomach by the awfulness of having lung cancer, but they're also made to feel guilty for having it. That's messed up.
It just makes me angry. So very angry. I know it comes from the natural inclination for wanting a reason for suffering, but can't people stop and think about the words flying out of their mouths?
posted by Val @ 8:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home