carpe diem

there's a pill for everything.  there really is.  natural or synthesized, whether or not that pill does what it's supposed to is always a question.  placebo plays a big role in healing, insofar as mental health can drastically influence physical health.  but then there are always nature's mysteries, the big questions, the unanswerables, like why does someone get cancer?  what are the specific variables?  nobody really knows.  every body is different.  that's what makes the treatment and cure for cancer so elusive.  i know i've talked about this before.

in my short life, i have known way too many people with cancer.  young people, old people...some theories state that all people have it at some point.  the same probably goes for you.  it is the epidemic of our time, a modern-day  plague.  it has affected everyone i know in some form or another.  just this sunday, another family member passed away from cancer.  it is omnipresent.  and so a good portion of my life is spent trying not to be afraid, gently but militantly working towards optimum health through exercise, a clean diet and stress management.  this video on the effects of diet on cancer had me pretty optimistic.  but even the healthiest people in the world can get it.  my former naturopath, a gloriously radiant and healthful woman (who specialized in the physio-emotional effects of cancer on families of cancer patients)  was surprised to find a melanoma when she volunteered to have a mole biopsied during one of her classes at the college of natural medicine.  yup, if you're thinking what i'm thinking, i guess that means none of us are exempt.

the only reassurance i really have about disease in general is in the inevitable end result, death.  what i mean is, we all die.  for us to be terrified as a species of a process that is so inherently natural, so earthly and omnipresent, is quite ironic.  in fact, these days, i find it kind of hilarious.  like the gentle reminder my mom left behind for after she was gone, that plaque in the cabin outhouse that reads plainly, blatantly, unavoidably while you shit into a deep hole in the black earth: "don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out  alive anyways"...death is life.  and its beautiful, yes, it can be if you look at it the right way. 

so please, don't wait. live it up. because we're all gonna die.  and you never know which day might be your last.