April 14, 2006 - Day 3 - Week 2 - Power in Sharing

It has been the experience of many that blessings come in small packages. This morning I felt blessed to be able to work out for 1 hour and a half.  It was a delight to return to the health club, a much more appropriate name than gymnasium, where I plan to optimize my health over the next eight months.  Nothing fancy, just a bunch of treadmills, weight machines, and stair masters.  And, then there is that intangible that will enhance my health and well being, perhaps even more than the physical exercise, and that is the antidote to cancer, it is called community.

Perhaps the most important ingredient in getting well is having a community of support.  Civic organizations, churches, country clubs, health clubs, and academic institutions, created for a variety of purposes at the outset, often become our best source of support in times of crisis or need.  The friends or acquaintances we see on a regular basis begin to have a sense of who we are through association, and when our routine is altered and we are absent from meetings, church or workouts, people notice.  Building community in an always increasingly depersonalized world is essential to human health. A smile, touch, kind word often goes a long way to accelerating the natural and medically defined healing process.

This morning a gesture on the part of a friend defines the essence of community.  I was walking and reading on the treadmill, much to the chagrin of physical trainers, but a long time part of my healthy daily routine, when a doctor friend stopped to offer support. She expressed gratitude for my approach to the illness and was overtly moved talking with me.  Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary on the surface, but the cover does not always tell the real story.  My friend has been going through a year long marriage battle that resembles Thunder Mountain at Disneyland.  The ups and downs and dark tunnels have sapped her emotionally, but she smiled with me and offered her love and support.  This genuine gesture came within a community not known for pastoral care or sensitive expressions of concern, but it demonstrated once again that the simple gesture offered to another may have a huge impact to both giver and receiver.

Cancer has met its match when we are willing to share in community and community shares back.

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