Conversations... Part 2

A man walks up, his face twisted with grief, and says, 
"My dad died of colon cancer." 
He hangs his head and walks out the door. 
(Spoken to me the day we announced my cancer to the church.) 


"It wasn't the cancer that killed him, it was the chemotherapy." 
(Spoken to me the day before I started chemotherapy.)


"I've seen corpses that look better than you." 
(Seriously, someone said this out loud to a friend of mine who is fighting cancer!)


"You look tired." 
(Seems like an innocent statement. But please know that cancer patients are aware of how they look. They spend a lot of time trying not to look sick, but eventually, there is no hiding it. Please don't remind us.  Unless you have a very close relationship with someone, don't make this statement.)


In the words of my mother (and probably yours too):

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

"Words kill, words give life; 

they're either poison or fruit—

you choose." 

Proverbs 18:21