We saw my dad for the first time since being diagnosed with lung cancer and undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy. He has been through a rough time and lost quite a bit of weight. Although he feels he looks pretty bad, I think he has an interesting look. Mean and lean and gaunt, even, yet somehow thoughtful. We go though life in all its glory and usually it shows. Is that such a terrible thing? As long as we are spared pain and suffering, and even if we are not, who cares if we show our age and experience? People in our society spend so much time psychoanalyzing the meaning of it all and, in my opinion, it keeps a vicious cycle alive. How about thinking about it in terms of people simply being at the mercy of the human body, and that we all need help now and again as said body breaks down and/or ages? Isn’t it really as simple as that? The truth of it is people fear the psychological and social implications of serious illness, and certainly the medical establishment, more than illness itself. How terrible. Here then are a couple pix of my dad, who posed in good fun with his oxygen tube for this website.
