John McCain did not 'lose' his battle with glioblastoma — because cancer is not a war

IT Im with you on that...that doesn't mean anyone can not be used with dark motive assigned...its done all the time... for millinia...and this will continue to be true...I mean where does the dark come any where...And yes IT it happens right here on HW...but that's fairly obvious...if not..from.where does the ego driven angst derive...It just goes on and on as this thread just might do...and really other than personal engagement...whats the point...Support is nothing but a buzz word to cover the "sins" of the father and based (imo on TA metric's of what is or not "proper" Support itself has very little room in that holodeck...and the irony screams...oh and btw couldn't any one who disagrees with another member on any thing....with the "proper" standing...be accused of not "supporting" that member...happens to me and few others...quite a few actually(some have moved on...others have actually died...all the time...and if it doesn't its actions or non actions have a muzzling effect on others...but then that is what censorship is....especially when it is selective in its target.... this forum does not know what it does not know....and will never be corrective...till someone anyone...fesses up to the reality...that no one...not one...is any better in navigating existance then anyone else....first shall be last and last shall be first...Ok mods...choose wisely...think....thimk

Wings of Eagles said...
............. I know advanced PC will likely kill me. Think and state, whatever you want, that is fine. But for me and for my family, just do not tell me I am not a cancer fighter because I am. Do not tell me I am not a Battle Brother, because I am, and I like that term. Do not tell me that I am not fighting a battle, because I am every day. DO NOT ever tell me that when I pass, I did not fight the good fight, because as another poster has already stated, those words are sacred to me.

Yes sir! I WILL NOT tell you that, for sure. If you feel like you are in a battle or war, then by golly you are as far as I'm concerned. I think you are among a large number of fellow soldiers.

Wings of Eagles said...
All due respect to all posters, just wish that hopefully this thread will fade out as I think it has outlived it’s usefulness. Nice long thread here, and Ya’ll are as Capt. Kirk always says at he end of Star Trek “Engage(d)” (Go forward)
Wings

I have been surprised at how long this has gone for after it was reopened. But I guess the use of these common terms is is a bad thing and important to some folks, and worth discussing. So be it. Different strokes. But me, I'm in a battle. Not just against PC, but against death(not counting my belief system in that statement) and a few other things. I will no doubt lose, just like every one else. I will still fight it.

TA,
I was glad to hear you were able to entrench your meme in a not so lonely battle. Fight on!
Also, the personifications of cancer in the articles you quote are classic.

Post Edited (RCS) : 9/3/2018 7:05:46 PM (GMT-6)

island time said...

BillyBob@388 said...

mattamx said...
I’m glad my cancer cells aren’t reading any of this. They might get the idea of upping their game.🙂

Or they might get depressed to find out what a battle they are in with some of us and just kill themselves!

LOL that's my game plan!!

We must make their lives not worth living and drive them to suicide, aka apoptosis(sp?)!

I really ought to leave this alone. Participants on this thread have settled into fairly stable groups and it is unlikely that any minds will be changed at this point. People were upset for a while but seem to have calmed down. Recent posts have mostly been one liners. Logos has offered his opinion and none of us can quite figure out what he said. But anyway, that's behind us now and, as a moderator I really ought to let this fade away. But, I can't until I take one more whack at it.

A man, properly understood, is not a creature of flesh and bone but a collection of stories, all with the same main character. They are the stories we tell the world, and our friends and families, and ourselves, about who we are and what is important to us. Women are also collections of stories but I am old-fashioned enough to think that the stories are a little bit different. It is only in the context of these stories that we can view the world or know other people. Human beings have four basic needs, air, water, food, and their stories to give them a context for working out the rest of Maslow's hierarchy.

Different people have different stories. Culture provides us with building blocks of story that we adopt, adapt, and share back out, all as we need to move move our narratives forward. Many people facing a potentially life-threatening illness find military metaphors that they can fit into their stories to help them cope. Note that metaphors is plural here. There are lots of different ones. They are not all Rambo-esque fight-fight-win-win scenarios. Some fit better in some situations than others. Advanced metastatic cancer is a bit like WW I trench warfare where the best you can usually hope for is to simply hold the lines where they are. I am looking for a better metaphor for Active Surveillance than the Maginot Line but the sort of ready militant watchfulness it represents does fit well. A somewhat more actively kinetic metaphor is probably good for surgery or radiation, and for the end game, where it is clear that further treatments are unlikely to help, one can look to General Johnston, surrendering the last of the Confederate army at Bennet Place North Carolina. But they do have common threads that run through them -- the martial virtues, if you will, of poise, courage, grace under trying conditions, willingness to take risks to accomplish goals, willingness to act on incomplete information, and at times readiness to concede a lost cause.

So yes, I use military metaphors for dealing with serious medical issues. I encourage people to adopt them. I think it helps them to build a story around their problems, to decide what is important to them, and do follow through on those decisions. And yes, I expect them to be brave. I don't blame them if they aren't -- if they can't be -- that would be unkind and unfair. But neither to I ignore the fact that most people are brave in the end and I do admire it. I have no interest in protecting people from failure by taking away their last chance to succeed.

“I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:6-7)

From 142-
Based on some of the edges that got blurred over the last few weeks, that it assigns a historic context, and that there is a bottle of scotch in my cabinet that is reserved for my friends to share at the end of my final battle, I'm going to defer any action here.

Post Edited By Moderator (142) : 9/4/2018 5:05:05 PM (GMT-6)

Not that it matters Pda...but you just violated rule 3 on me{thanks for the assist/)....yeh...I know sticky wicket whot? ...funny how reality seeps thru...just don't say with your index finger seconds from my heart..."What?...Im not touching you!!" I will..as you did with a "anyway"...whisk it a way... watch...anyway...let that be the forum's template...with every member...not just the chosen few...
watch again...The whole ' I don't get what logo is saying ' is as stale as tommorows news...if that were true...there would be no "problem with logo"...he would be dismissed as...well...have some fun...fill in the blanks....

I saw that movie 53 times.

Well, I was a security guard at the theater where it played, wasn't much els to do ...

Tall Allen said...

So I agree with you that we can't flourish without our narratives. But I think that some of our narratives take on a life of their own and become counter-productive to our well-being. They deserve close and constant scrutiny. I hope this thread has led some of us to re-examine some of those narratives.

Very true, and the martial virtues PDA refers to are most apropos. The book by Charles Heckney, 'Martial Virtues: Lessons in Wisdom, Courage, and Compassion from the World's Greatest Warriors' is a fine read. As is 'The Warrior Ethos", by Steve Pressfield. Even metaphorical warriors, perhaps unknowingly, follow the code.

In order to 'flourish' we need to not only have a narrative, but also understand it.

142 said...

logoslidat said...
Not that it matters Pda...but you just violated rule 3 on me{thanks for the assist/)....yeh...I know sticky wicket whot? ...funny how reality seeps thru...just don't say with your index finger seconds from my heart..."What?...Im not touching you!!" I will..as you did with a "anyway"...whisk it a way... watch...anyway...let that be the forum's template...with every member...not just the chosen few...
watch again...The whole ' I don't get what logo is saying ' is as stale as tommorows news...if that were true...there would be no "problem with logo"...he would be dismissed as...well...have some fun...fill in the blanks....

Hey Logo, 142 here.

Sorry, but I very rarely understand you myself. Sometimes we are linked arms and thought, which makes me happy. Sometimes we aren't.

I just got in from chemo (ongoing since Oct. '17) and a new round of RT. I was sitting with some folks that I can't believe are able to go on another day. I'll bee there sooner or later.

142, the simple truth of your last sentence puts discussions over which words shouldn’t be used with cancer into the truly meaningless category. If sports teams can battle then what is dancing with something that can/will kill you? I have those images from my wife’s years long battle.

cointoss...that post to 142 requires an apology to 142...not because he is a moderator...but because he is a human being...if it makes it easier...toss a coin to decide if you should...that at the least...offers you...not him...he is not a meany... redemption Im sorry if your wife passed and you feel it was the chemo...142 is alive and he feels the chemo may have a role in that...do not take your loss out on his gain... it was not a toss of a coin that decided this...if that was the case...we could all learn how to toss a coin to that gives the result we want...bitterness...in all ways is tasted by the tongue that produced it...."

And for our next thread:

Should toilet paper in a holder come out from the top or the bottom.

Mel

Compiler:

Ummm, from the top of course. Anyone that argues the opposite is un-American.