...that really stood out to me.
1) I can only imagine what hell it must have been for him those four days, carrying all by himself the knowledge that he had cancer. Especially with his dad dying from the same cancer only two years before. It shows me how very much he loves his family for him to do that so as not to disrupt their holiday. I also found it poignant and interesting that he wanted to wait because he knew it would change how even his family viewed him. I never thought about how that must feel, how an illness or disease like this alters your sense of identity. That was a powerful thought, and a sad one.
2) He is very aware that the level of care and the speed of receiving treatment was greatly affected by who he was and his ability to afford treatment. If you watch the entire video (at
http://www.johnkerry.com) he returns to that point later in the speech. This awareness of the disparity between the "haves" and "have nots" is what has made him so determined to address the issue of national health care. He believes on a very deep level that all people, regardless of their status or finances, deserve medical care. He has personal experience that proves that when a person is facing a life-threatening illness, the playing field is leveled and we all hurt and grieve and fight in much the same way. So we ought to have equal access to quality medical care.
I just thought it was really moving to see his awareness of these dynamics and to see that he has allowed these horrible experiences to motivate him to try to bring good out of it. The full video is really worth watching. It made me think about cancer and illnesses in a new way and to be more aware of my responsibility in trying to help bring about changes in our lifestyle and how we care for the environment, in order to help reduce the prevalence of cancer and other diseases.
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