THE RHETORIC OF CANCER

Cancer is commonly referred to as an enemy, something you never want to have in one's life -having cancer in one's own body, or on anyone close to him. Cancer is always a losing battle if you treat it as an enemy in war, and medical professionals as heroes.

Andrew Graystone created a documentary on the language of cancer, and consulted several professionals on what terms or how do they denote the concept of cancer. He also said that to battle cancer is to battle himself, or rather, create a conflict against oneself. He mentioned St. Francis who treated cancer as a family member, that the disease is actually a part of his body. The implication of this is, St. Francis never had a conflict against himself, because he did not try to battle or fight it. It was a part of his body, and even if it killed him, he never lost to cancer - because for him, cancer was a friend, a part of his wholeness. 

This rhetoric of cancer brought about a spiritual or religious philosophy on treating cancer as a friend instead of an enemy, even if cancer would destroy the physical body. My reaction to this is, it really depends on the people whether to embrace this philosophy or decide to continue battling it for the prize of living a longer life. I do not want to contradict the philosophy given; my opinion is, we have free will to view cancer as what we want to - either as a friend or as an enemy.

Reyes, Paollo Deo R.
2013-66992