Laugh With the Sinners, Cry With the Saints

Laugh With the Sinners, Cry With the Saints
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Apologies for being away, but it's been a busy few weeks. New job, kids back from sleep away camp, back to school (including college) preparations, etc. You know... life. At least I was able to get out on the soccer field several times and get back in game shape for the fall events. Something different also happened. A friend and fellow genetic colon cancer survivor took her own life. Of course the Interweb went crazy. Speculation as to why she did it. Was it the cancer? Was it something else? Was it a right wing/liberal plot? The debate raged. I was asked my opinion, like I somehow have insight into other people and their feelings. As I try to do frequently (except when it comes to coaching soccer), I took the higher road. No debate with anyone I knew, just good thoughts to those around her, and let it go. I don't do funerals. I'd rather tell people how I feel about them while they're alive.

So I'm getting out of my car after an early Saturday morning soccer game, and who should show up on my driveway, but a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. Now I'm completely disheveled from two hours of huffing and puffing, I've got ice on my right thigh from a collision with an errant knee, I'm hungry, and I'm plain old. This wasn't the last thing I wanted, but it was pretty close. But they brought my newspaper up my driveway (yes I still get the morning paper) so I took their pamphlet and heard their brief pitch. I'm not sure why I did it, but I started a conversation about my friend's suicide, and even more incredulous was how it went. Maybe I was expecting a debate about suicide, or something else, but the two gentlemen actually thought taking your own life was okay. Their reasoning was pretty straightforward. At a certain point in your life, things hurt too much, you feel less useful, and are simply ready. I didn't disagree, especially about taking your own life, not someone else's first. Also we agreed that it shouldn't be from a bridge during rush hour, and that the net under the Golden Gate Bridge is a waste of taxpayer money. Interesting that I would have an in-depth conversation about suicide with Jehovah's Witnesses in my driveway. Aside from them thinking that I was in my mid-50s instead of my mid-40s, it was better than I thought.

The Colon Club board has decided that they'd like to use the AliveAndKickathon north Jersey in October as the launch of the 2014 Colondar. While I'm biased as Mr. January 2012, I'm glad it was their thought, not mine. Very excited.

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