Sunday, March 25, 2007

Get busy living, or get busy dying!

As a native Tar Heel, I watched with great anticipation the 60 minutes interview by Katie Couric of Presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth discussing her fight with cancer and their decision as a couple to continue the campaign. I was deeply moved by their comments. They spoke with courage while answering Couric's tough questioning. How can you go forward? Couric asked in several different ways. Here's the response by Elizabeth Edwards:

Anticipating the demands of the campaign trail, Elizabeth Edwards said her options were clear.
"Either you push forward with the things that you were doing yesterday or you start dying. That seems to be your only two choices," she said. "If I had given up everything that my life was about — first of all, I'd let cancer win before it needed to."

Like many others, I've had close family members die because of cancer. And so I found Elizabeth Edwards' courage enormously inspiring. At the same time, the cynical element in American political discourse would seek to undermine the integrity of John and Elizabeth Edwards. What a sad commentary on the level of public discussion of such a deeply moving story.

I think that ultimately, the Edward's decision is a deeply spiritual choice. We are all going to die, as they pointed out. It's a matter of time and circumstance. But how we live in facing the ultimate challenge of death makes all the difference.

"Nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ," says the Apostle Paul in Romans 8.

I applaud John and Elizabeth Edwards for their courage and their faith.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home