filed in Daily Life
One More Reason Not to Smoke
A 37-year old man in my neighborhood who I barely know except to say hi when we pass each other with our dogs, blurted out that he has stage 2 bladder cancer. It was right after I was making small talk about the weather. The bluntness of his confession stunned me, especially as we’re practically strangers and I hardly knew what to say, except, “I’m so, so sorry.” He admitted that he had smoked for 22 years, which is the number one risk factor for his kind of cancer. After getting the diagnosis, he quit immediately.
Girl Smoking by Richard Diebenkorn
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What a painting! Almost inspires me to start again. But I’ll resist.
Definitely resist.
Wendy, your response was exactly right. You know, it’s funny what we sometimes blurt out to almost complete strangers, or how much a little sympathy/empathy/kind word from a stranger can mean. Once I was at the drugstore after a particularly trying day and something I saw on the shelf made tears spring into my eyes. I wiped them away quickly before proceeding to checkout, but I guess they were still visible. The young man at the checkout counter said “are you ok? I hope everything is fine.” Such a small gesture, and I just said “yes, I’ll be ok, thank you for asking though”. The fact that someone, anyone noticed that I was upset really made me feel better. I’m sure your neighbor appreciated you listening.
Oh and the smoking…that is one bad habit I am glad I never picked up. Occasional ones here and there back in college, but sure glad it didn’t stick.
It was a heartbreaking story, but I’m hoping it has a happy ending. And I’ll be sending healing thoughts his way.