Wednesday November 20, 2002

The way we should live life

This semester I've had the chance to get really in-depth with my studies in psychology, and this year I've been getting into the nitty gritty of my major. In Learning, my class briefly covered some paradoxical effects in rat learning (PREE, MREE, SNCE, PDREE, VMREE). I felt smart having all that jargon in my vocabulary. But About half an hour ago, I got schooled about some paradoxical effects in human emotion and attitude (ASS KICKING RESOLVE).

About an hour ago, woman in my Abnormal Psychology class was asking me some questions about what she missed last time. We started talking a bit, and I found out that she has bone cancer. I had no idea --she never mentioned it before, and she always seemed to be the most energetic, hapy-go-lucky person. She told me that 2 1/2 years ago she was told by her doctor that she had six months to live, but that she wouldn't accept that prognosis. Too much to do, too many places to go, too many things to experience. Her hair fell out, half her days were spent puking, and she was glued to her bed for an intolerably long time. But even in the middle of chemo treatments for her "terminal" cancer, she remained adamant about her decision to stick around for graduation (and beyond).

I don't think her doctor would have believed then that three years later she would be getting her college diploma. This chick has balls, plain and simple. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to apply this made-for-tv story to my own life. I don't know how to do that yet, but I can't let myself forget about this awesome chick that arm wrestled death to shame. It's just too good of a story.